As the drama of the FBI investigation into Bauer's photo department grows, so, too, do the specifics of its scope.

Original reports of a probe into In Touch suggested the feds were interested in a payola scheme involving a LA editor getting a cut from a paparazzi agency for each of its photos he helped land on the cover. Except as our sources explained, the West Coast office has no role in choosing covers; that all happens with Richard Spencer's team in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

So what is the FBI really interested in?

Keith Kelly thinks it's still tied to photo agencies, but not whether an editor chose covers, but whether the editor assigned the agency to cover specific stories for a fee, and then took some of that cash home himself. One source "said that one agency had garnered $80,000 in assignments from In Touch without ever getting a photo into the magazine." Gawker's moles claim the editor was actually being paid to kill stories, which strikes a very familiar Jared Paul Stern tone. (That case also had the FBI's interest.)

If the FBI is indeed looking at a photo editor, all signs suggest it would be photo director Michael Todd. Why? Because he's one of the only "men" in the photo department, and his East Coast position gives him more power in choosing covers. When editor-in-chief Richard Spencer decides which story he wants to put on the cover each week, it's Todd's job to find him the photos available that would best illustrate the story. From Todd's selection, Spencer makes a pick; if he doesn't see anything he really likes, he might have Todd grab more photos.

Though one source did nudge us in Todd's direction, sources inside Bauer refute the notion he could be involved at any level. Rather, it may have been one of any number of former editors, who left the magazine over the past few years, that the FBI is really interested in. These candidates would have been playing this game for long enough to interest the feds.

As for the possibility an editor was paid to kill stories? Not entirely out of reach. Consider the fact that tabloid editors don't just report celebrity news; they filter it. Certain stories get buried while some "barely a story" stories get big play, all based on the relationships between editors, publicists, and the celebrities themselves. Who has an agenda? Who is owed a favor? Swag and perks all come in to play in this machine, and while adding cash to the mix may sound dirty, it's not an impossible element.

"I would never accept cash to kill or run a story," says one Bauer veteran. "But it wouldn't surprise me if, say, I found out tomorrow that one of my colleagues got more than a dinner out of a story. Or a story he killed."