The Sun has been plunged into its worst ever crisis following the arrest of five of its most senior journalists over corruption allegations, moving Rupert Murdoch to pledge his support for the paper amid rumours that it faces closure.

The latest arrests sharply increase the danger to News Corporation of potential multimillion dollar fines by US authorities as part of the continuing investigation into alleged bribery of public officials under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Phone-Hacking Scandal Comes to the U.S.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Lewis confirmed for the first time that he plans to file three separate lawsuits on behalf of clients who believe their phones were hacked while they were on U.S. soil. At least one of the cases, Lewis adds, involves allegations that the phone of a U.S. citizen was hacked. "This is getting wider," Lewis says. A spokesperson for News Corporation declined to comment.

Lawyers and Murdoch opponents have been searching hard for U.S.-based cases since the scandal reached a head this summer. For one, they could bring the public-relations nightmare closer to home for News Corp., the parent company for Murdoch's media conglomerate, which is headquartered in New York.

Analysts say the company has worked hard to limit the damage to its U.K. arm, News International, whose newspaper business accounts for just a fraction of the News Corp. bottom line. "News Corp. has so far tried to keep matters in the U.K. and has moved toward a policy of settling all cases as speedily as possible," says Claire Enders, a London-based media analyst who follows News Corp. closely. "Mark Lewis launching these lawsuits in the U.S. brings the issue of phone hacking into News Corp.'s backyard, where they have the potential for significant embarrassment. And the people who are going to get the most embarrassed by this are the Murdochs in New York."

If there is any legal wrongdoing involved, basically just to turn anything found into ratings and money, then I hope justice is served.