Publisher pulls plug on journalist allegedly under Putin ally's patronage

German publisher Hoffmann und Campe of the Ganske Publishing Group on Wednesday decided to halt sales of two non-fiction books about Russian President Vladimir Putin, authored by award-winning journalist Hubert Seipel. This move comes after media reports accused Seipel of receiving over $650,000 in offshore payments from companies linked to an oligarch closely associated with Putin. The publisher said it was not aware of the allegations before reports by German magazine Der Spiegel and public German television ZDF.