News of the World Hacking Scandal: Jude Law, other Celebrities Paid Settlement by Rupert Murdoch's Media Group

British actor Jude Law is among the individuals who received just compensation with the media empire of Rupert Murdoch's News Group as part of the settlement in the case involving email and phone hacking instigated by the editors and reporters of the now-defunct News of the World, lawyers and reports have confirmed.

Court documents from Thursday's hearing have shown that settlements disclosed include those of the actor Jude Law, who received £130,000 (about $200,000); Sadie Frost, his ex-wife, who received £50,000 ($77,000); Ben Jackson, his assistant, who received £40,000 ($61,000) ; Gavin Henson, a Welsh rugby star, who also received £40,000; and Dennis MacShane, a member of Parliament, who received £32,500 pounds ($50,000).

News Corp will also shoulder the legal costs of the victims, who are willing to settle the case with the media company led by Rupert Murdoch and his family.

Law is just among the few, as police have claimed that victims are as many as 800. The amount of compensation cited for the victims could easily amount to $1 million and News Group lawyer Michael Silverleaf said they are willing to settle all the cases if given the chance. Silverleaf has repeatedly remarked of the company's "sincere apologies" for "the damage, as well as the distress" caused to victim after victim during the hearing at the Supreme Court.

The hearing at the High Court on Thursday was so packed with the victims, lawyers, and members of the media that some had squatted on the floor. There was, however, a disagreement among the lawyers of the victims and News Corp in terms of admitting if indeed the compensation and settlement was already an admission of guilt on the part of News Corp.

Lawyers for the hacking victims issued this statement after the hearing: "News Group has agreed to compensation being assessed on the basis that senior employees and directors of N.G.N. knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence," the statement said, referring to News Group Newspapers.

The lawyers also said that they had obtained through nine disclosure orders from the court "documents relating to the nature and scale of the conspiracy, a cover-up and the destruction of evidence/email archives by News Group."

In a statement, News International, the British newspaper arm of Mr. Murdoch's global empire and the parent company of News Group, said that it had "made no admission as part of these settlements that directors or senior employees knew about the wrongdoing by N.G.N. or sought to conceal it." It added: "However, for the purpose of reaching these settlements only, N.G.N. agreed that the damages to be paid to claimants should be assessed as if this was the case." According to related report by the New York Times, lawyers said, however, that it was unlikely that the company would have agreed to calculate settlements on the basis that there was a cover-up if there was in fact no cover-up.