JEFF BEZOS SUED FOR DEFAMATION
GIRLFRIEND’S BROTHER FILES CASE AGAINST AMAZON CEO
NEWYORK: Jeff Bezos was sued for defamation by his girlfriend’s brother in a lawsuit accusing the Amazon.com Inc. chief executive officer (CEO) of falsely claiming the brother provided lurid photographs to the National Enquirer.
The lawsuit was filed late on Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Michael Sanchez, the brother of Lauren Sanchez and subject of media reports that he was a source for the Enquirer’s splashy report last year revealing the affair between his sister and Bezos. The story has expanded into an international controversy, now involving allegations that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince participated in a hack of Bezos’ phone. The lawsuit also names
Gavin de Becker, a security consultant who works for Bezos, as a defendant. It accuses Bezos and de Becker of telling journalists that
Michael Sanchez provided graphic nude photographs of Bezos to the tabloid.
In the filing, Michael Sanchez acknowledges he entered a confidential agreement to “cooperate strategically” with American Media Inc., the National Enquirer’s parent company, but said he did so to “get ahead of the story” in an effort to limit the backlash against his sister and Bezos.
He says he didn’t provide the photographs to the Enquirer and couldn’t have been the source for them because he never possessed them. A lawyer for Bezos, William Isaacson, said Bezos would respond to the accusations in court.