The Associated Press reported that Rielle Hunter, the ex-mistress of John Edwards, was paid $14,000 by Fred Baron, Edwards' national finance chairman, in exchange for 100 hours of footage for which she already had been paid $100,000.

On August 8, the former Democratic presidential candidate and senator from North Carolina appeared in the hard news program “Nightline” and confessed that in 2006 he had an extra conjugal affair with Hunter, a film maker who once worked for his campaign. He also said that the affair didn’t last long, but evidence that they spent months together emerged.

Edwards said he didn’t know anything about those payments. Baron also has described his payments to Hunter as a private transaction. Baron, who is also a trial lawyer, said the sums he paid Hunter were a confidential transaction.

One of Edward’s business partners, who asked his identity not to be revealed, stated that the $14,000 was paid to the producer of John Edwards’ One America pre-presidential campaign films only after she relinquished an estimated 100 hours of videotape sections that were not part of the four brief Web videos she had produced for Midline Groove Ltd. about two years ago.

Officials said it was a matter of great magnitude for Edwards to make evident the fact that the political action committee wasn't paying the producer only not to reveal about the extramarital affair.

"One thing that's possible is that she was still owed money from what she'd done before for the political action committee, but obviously there are less charitable explanations," said Richard Hasen, the William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California.