New York (CNN Business) Not long after it published a glossy magazine touting Saudi Arabia and its crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, American Media Inc. — otherwise best known as the company behind the National Enquirer — appears to have gone to the Justice Department with a question: Had the fawning publication made American Media a foreign agent?

In his blog post last week accusing American Media (AMI for short) of trying to blackmail him, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also alluded to a "Saudi angle" involving the company, as if he was leaving breadcrumbs for journalists and prosecutors to follow.

Now, federal prosecutors are looking into whether AMI may have in its dealings with Bezos violated an immunity deal it struck last year. And on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that AMI sent a letter to the Justice Department last year requesting an opinion about whether it needed to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The law requires people and companies that are "agents of a foreign principal," working on behalf of a foreign government or political party, to register with the U.S. government and label its information accordingly. The law was originally enacted to combat Nazi propaganda in the 1930s.

AMI reportedly inquired about the act last year after it published the promotional magazine about Saudi Arabia and bin Salman.

Read More