Mel Gibson Rants: Damage Control Efforts Meant to Protect Actor's Image, Not Cover Up Crime

By negotiating to pay Oksana Grigorieva and destroy the infamous Mel Gibson tapes, the actor and his legal team were merely trying to safeguard his reputation.

That's according to sources who refute claims by Grigorieva that Mel sought to buy her off and bury evidence of domestic violence during their mediation in May.

When they agreed to pay Oksana Grigorieva and daughter Lucia around $15 million in return for the destruction of "evidence," his image was the only concern.

Oksana, who faces an extortion investigation over this, claims the mediation was not binding because lawyers cannot agree to destroy the evidence of a crime.

The alleged abuse photo of a battered Oksana was not part of the deal, however, and neither Mel or his lawyers thought domestic violence was even an issue.


Mel's team claims Team Oksana made it very clear that the $15 million was a payout to keep the racist, misogynistic and generally insane rants by Mel secret.

The photos were not included as part of the "evidence." If Mel was trying to cover up an attack on her, why didn't he insist that Oksana hand over the photos?