The publisher of the National Enquirer confirmed Sunday the source of leaks about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ affair came from the brother of his mistress.
The statement was issued less than 24 hours after Bezos’ security consultant, Gavin de Becker, said in a piece on The Daily Beast that the investigation into leaked text messages between Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez “concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos’ phone.”
American Media, Inc., pushed back on that claim Sunday, saying the source of the texts, which detailed a sexually explicit affair Bezos was having, came from Sanchez’s brother, Michael Sanchez.
“The fact of the matter is, it was Michael Sanchez who tipped the National Enquirer off to the affair on Sept. 10, 2018, and over the course of four months provided all of the materials for our investigation. His continuing efforts to discuss and falsely represent our reporting, and his role in it, has waived any source confidentiality. There was no involvement by any third party whatsoever,” AMI said.
It was previously reported that Michael Sanchez was paid by AMI to reveal Bezos’ secrets, but Sunday was the first time that AMI acknowledged him as the source of the story.
Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, filed for divorce after being contacted by the National Enquirer for comment after the tabloid said they had photos proving that he was cheating.
President Trump, who has publicly sparred with the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, denied that he knew the Enquirer was digging into Bezos’ marriage. Bezos said in a post on Medium that he was being blackmailed by the company.
