Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Sued For Defamation By Girlfriend’s Brother Over Tabloid Tiff

Jill Goldsmith
·2 min read

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Amazon founder-CEO Jeff Bezos just saw his company’s market cap hit $1 trillion. Now this?

Michael Sanchez, the brother of Bezos’ girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, has sued the tech mogul and his security consultant Gavin de Becker for defamation in Los Angeles state court in a case relating to a 2019 tabloid news story revealing Bezos’ affair.

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Sanchez, a Hollywood talent manager, accused Bezos and de Becker of falsely telling journalists that Sanchez leaked the story, including sexually charged texts from Bezos, to the National Enquirer.

Sanchez said his home was searched by the FBI.

His suit also bizarrely claims that Bezos kept the affair secret on the advice of a psychic, according to the New York Times.

The National Enquirer story, on January 9 of last year, included the text messages from Bezos to Lauren Sanchez. The tabloid also later claimed to have nude photos of Bezos but it never published them. Bezos and his wife MacKenzie Bezos announced they were splitting just before the story hit online. And Bezos went on the offensive, launching an investigation into how the outlet obtained the material.

The lawsuit said Bezos and de Becker spread a “false narrative” that Sanchez had betrayed his sister by selling the story to the tabloid.

A lawyer for Bezos, William Isaacson, told the NYT that his client “has chosen to address this lawsuit in court and we will do that soon.”

In a statement provided by her lawyer to the paper, Lauren Sanchez said, “Michael is my older brother. He secretly provided my most personal information to The National Enquirer — a deep and unforgivable betrayal. My family is hurting over this new baseless and untrue lawsuit, and we truly hope my brother finds peace.”

A lawyer for Michael Sanchez, Enoch Liang, said in a statement that the lawsuit “speaks for itself.”

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