By Ian Mohr From Page Six

Has Nick Denton’s Gawker Media stashed millions overseas in preparation for the $100 million Hulk Hogan trial?

Not long after Hogan filed the federal suit over Gawker posting a sex tape starring the former pro wrestler, a private limited company, Gawker Media Limited, was set up in the UK — with Denton’s sister, Eva Rebecca Denton, as the company’s director. But reps for Denton say the funds are just a trust for family members and they’re not afraid of Hogan’s suit.

Denton’s embattled media outfit last month sold a minority stake to a venture-capital firm, Columbus Nova Technology Partners. The move was spurred, Denton said, in part for the company to “gird” itself for the March legal battle with Hogan in Florida.

Meanwhile, Gawker’s separately been embroiled in tense contract negotiations with its staff after its workers unionized.

But according to public records, Gawker Media Limited has plenty of dough, about $10 million in assets as of 2014. Records show the company was established in May 2013, seven months after Hogan filed his federal complaint in October 2012.

The trust holds 26 percent “of the ordinary share capital of Gawker Media Group,” incorporated in the Cayman Islands, public records state.

But a rep for Denton said the trust benefits family members in Britain. The rep added in a statement regarding the impending Hogan trial: “There’s no need to shield assets because, as legal experts note, [Hogan will] ultimately lose his baseless effort to undo the First Amendment.”

Hogan’s rep didn’t get back to us.

Denton and his sister keep Gawker board seats under the new arrangement with Columbus Nova Technology Partners, which is backed by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.

Gawker Media president and general counsel Heather Dietrick did not return a call requesting comment, but she reportedly said last fall: “It’s quite possible that Hogan just gets a very small judgment against us.”

IMAGE:
Hulk Hogan Photo: Getty
Nick Denton Photo: Getty Images

For more on this story go to: http://pagesix.com/2016/02/11/did-gawker-stash-millions-overseas-ahead-of-hogan-trial/