Billionaire Jeff Bezos is being sued by his girlfriend’s brother on charges of defamation after the National Enquirer revealed Bezos’s extramarital affair.
The lawsuit was filed on Friday by Michael Sanchez, the brother of Bezos’s girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, 50, according to the New York Times. It targets both the Amazon CEO and his security consultant, Gavin de Becker, for allegedly telling journalists that Michael Sanchez had leaked “graphic” and “nude” photographs of Bezos to the National Enquirer.
The story in question was published in January 2019, and it included reproductions of sexual text messages between Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. The National Enquirer also said it had compromising photos of the 56-year-old billionaire, although the pictures were never published.
The story in the tabloid ended the marriage of Bezos and his wife of 25 years, Mackenzie Bezos. The split was amicable, with Jeff Bezos saying that he and Mackenzie Bezos, 49, would “continue our shared lives as friends.”
According to Michael Sanchez’s lawsuit, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez began their affair in 2017 and “were guided in their decision to keep their relationship hidden by a psychic in New Mexico.”
Jeff Bezos has implied that Saudi Arabia might have been behind the leaked text messages after hacking his phone. The leak came after a Saudi hit team killed columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident who worked for the Washington Post, which is owned by Jeff Bezos.
An analysis found with “medium to high confidence” that Jeff Bezos’s iPhone had been compromised after he received an infected message on WhatsApp, possibly sent by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It isn’t clear if there is any connection between the National Enquirer story and the Saudi hack.
The National Enquirer’s publisher, American Media, said Michael Sanchez was the “single source” of the leak. Michael Sanchez reportedly gave American Media the texts and photographs for $200,000. Federal authorities investigated the matter, and American Media provided evidence that Michael Sanchez had got the text messages from his sister and then approached the tabloid.
Lauren Sanchez pushed back on the lawsuit and called the leaked messages an “unforgivable betrayal.”
“Michael is my older brother. He secretly provided my most personal information to the National Enquirer — a deep and unforgivable betrayal,” she said. “My family is hurting over this new, baseless, and untrue lawsuit, and we truly hope my brother finds peace.”
William Isaacson, Bezos’s lawyer, said that the billionaire “has chosen to address this lawsuit in court, and we will do that soon.”
Michael Sanchez’s lawyer, Enoch Liang, said the lawsuit “speaks for itself.”
