Rebekah Brooks Pleads Not Guilty to Phone Hacking Charges

Former News Corp. executive faces charges ranging from bribery to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice

Rebekah Brooks, a former top News Corp. executive and confidant of its chief Rupert Murdoch, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to criminal charges stemming from phone hacking, according to a report in the Guardian. 

She faces five charges ranging from bribing public officials to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and has been ensnared in three separate police investigations, the paper reports. She entered her plea in Southwark Crown Court in London.

Also read: Hacked! How the News of the World Scandal Threatens Murdoch's Empire

Before resigning in 2011, Brooks was the head of News International. She also edited the U.K. tabloid the News of the World, which was shuttered nearly two years ago in the wake of public outrage over evidence of hacking and bribery at the paper.

The scandal has prompted public investigations into corrupt practices at the country's papers and a series of embarrassments and costly legal challenges for News Corp.

The company is currently splitting itself into two separate companies — one of which will house its publishing assets, while the other would boast its more lucrative film and television businesses.

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