New York, Jul 8 : Veteran TV news anchor Rita Cosby's book on Anna Nicole Smith has been blasted by a federal judge, who said that her claims of the late model watching a video of her boyfriend having sex with lawyer Howard K. Stern were `preposterous'.

Judge Denny Chin had made the comment as lawyers for Cosby urged him to toss out a libel suit Stern filed after the publication of her book, Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death.

"One of the parts I find troubling is the story that Anna Nicole Smith used to entertain herself by watching this supposed video," the New York Daily News quoted Chin as saying.

"I mean, on the face of it, the story seems preposterous. And the sources are questionable," Chin added.

The book cites sources claiming that Smith watched a video of boyfriend Larry Birkhead and Stern having gay sex, but Stern has said that the video doesn't exist.

The attorney for publisher Hachette Book Group said editors relied on Cosby's reputation for thoroughness.

Cosby's attorney, Elizabeth McNamara, also told Chin that Stern couldn't be libeled because his reputation was "in tatters" long before the book was published.

Stern's attorney, Lin Wood, told Chin the book subjected him to ridicule beyond what any news figure would expect.

"(It) doesn't give you the right to say that you can call him a homosexual or give you the right to say that he engaged in homosexual acts with Larry Birkhead," Wood added. (ANI)