National Enquirer insists Lauren Sanchez’s brother leaked her affair with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos – as he launches libel action against the magazine
- Michael Sanchez, brother of Lauren Sanchez, is suing National Enquirer for libel
- Magazine says he was sole source for their story about her affair with Jeff Bezos
- He denies it, saying he only confirmed information the magazine already had
- Private detective hired by Bezos to find the leak has blamed a Saudi hack instead
The National Enquirer is laying out evidence which it says proves Lauren Sanchez’s brother was the sole source of its story about her affair with Jeff Bezos.
Lawyers for the magazine, which last year broke the story that led to the collapse of Bezos’s 25-year marriage, say Michael was paid $200,000 for information in October the previous year after a series of meetings with staff.
But Michael, who is suing the magazine for libel, says he was contacted by the magazine first to confirm information that reporters already had.
While his suit does not state where the magazine got its information, private sleuths hired by Bezos to find the source previously pointed the finger at Saudi Arabia.
Security firm FTI Consulting claimed last year that a private message sent from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Bezos in 2018 appeared to have installed spyware on his phone which began stealing data.
Lawyers for the National Enquirer magazine, which broke the story in 2019 that led to the collapse of Jeff Bezos’s 25-year marriage, say Michael Sanchez (pictured) was paid $200,000 for information in October the previous year after a series of meetings with staff
While it is not clear what data was taken or where it was sent, the firm concluded that a significant amount of information was hacked.
Five months later, the Enquirer story appeared. The magazine has vehemently denied that Saudi Arabia was the source of the information.
In new papers seen by TMZ, lawyers for the Enquirer say Michael first contacted a reporter at the publication in September 2018 offering information on a major affair.
After a back-and-forth with the editorial department, Michael agreed to meet them the following month, the magazine claims.
At that meeting, lawyers say he revealed the content of some of the messages along with pictures but refused to say who was involved.
Lauren Sanchez and Bezos attend the Amazon Prime Video celebration on January 16, 2020 in Mumbai, India. The article led to the collapse of Bezos’s marriage to Mackenzie, who he wed in 1993 before he founded Amazon
In new papers seen by TMZ , lawyers for the Enquirer say Michael first contacted a reporter at the publication in September 2018 offering information on a major affair
Scottie Nell Hughes, Michael Sanchez and John Phillips at Politicon at Pasadena Convention Center on July 30, 2017. Michael met with magazine bosses Dylan Howard and James Robertson in New York
Two weeks later the reporter involved approached her bosses and asked for $300,000 to buy the story after learning it was about Bezos.
The following day a deal was signed for $200,000, which magazine bosses say is the most they have ever paid for a single story.
Michael then met with magazine bosses Dylan Howard and James Robertson in New York the following week when they claim to have learned that the ‘other woman’ involved was Michael’s sister.
At the same meeting, they claim, Michael offered them a nude photo of Bezos that had been sent to his sister.
Conversations about the story continued, with Michael revealing in November that neither his sister nor Bezos knew he was handing the information over, allegedly telling the magazine: ‘Neither one have a clue.’
Two months later, in January 2019, the Enquirer eventually published the story which quickly went around the world.
It prompted the collapse of Bezos’s marriage to Mackenzie, who he wed in 1993 before he founded Amazon, and who settled for $38billion in June that year.