We can't remember the last time we even thought about ousted HarperCollins publisher Judith Regan. (Although we suspect it was may have been the night a drunk buddy of ours told an extremely offensive antisemitic joke, prompting another friend to interrupt with, "Hey, Judith Regan. Zip it, and grab me a cold one.") In any event, it's been far too long since we've read anything in the press about the former publishing scion who handed a confessed killer a huge book advance, was then promptly fired for completely unrelated reasons.

Until now.

Because today, Judith is back once more to defend her reputation, and this time, she claims to have secret tapes of phone calls and meetings that "provide explosive evidence" in her $20 million lawsuit against News Corp.

Reports Rush & Molloy:

The tapes "not only bolster her position against News Corp, but may prove damning to more than a few Fox executives," one source, who characterized the recordings as "juicy," told us.

And while Regan doesn't elaborate as to the material on those tapes, presumably they either pitch her in a positive light (e.g. capture Regan telling a co-worker "Mazel Tov on your son's Bar Matzvah!") or else capture publishing execs dreaming up ways to fire her ("Well, we took a vote, and 'Judith Regan hates the Chosen People' beats out 'Judith Regan steals inexpensive office supplies and, also, she was born with a tail' by a score of 5-4.").

Meanwhile, Regan has slapped her former employers with a lawsuit for wrongful termination and defamation of character, and—in addition to the so-called "explosive" evidence—she has taken the precaution of hiring herself a pair of fancy Jew lawyers to handle her case.