Amazon boss’s phone ‘hacked by Saudi prince’
World’s richest man ‘hit by virus in video ... months later affair texts made public’
AMAZON billionaire Jeff Bezos’s phone was hacked by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia during a WhatsApp chat, it was claimed last night.
The pair were having a conversation over the messaging app in 2018 when an encrypted video message was allegedly sent from Mohammed bin Salman’s number.
Within hours, huge amounts of data had been stolen from Mr Bezos’s phone, The Guardian reported.
The revelations may lead to fresh questions about the behaviour of the Crown Prince and his inner circle before the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist for The Washington Post. The paper is owned by Mr Bezos – who is the world’s richest man with an estimated fortune of £100billion.
Mr Khashoggi was killed in October 2018, five months after the alleged hacking took place. Investigations were initially launched by Mr Bezos’s security team after US tabloid The National Enquirer published intimate text messages last January that were sent from the Amazon chief’s phone. The texts, published nine months after the alleged hack, r revealed extraordinary details of Mr Bezos’s affair with TV news anchor Lauren Sanchez.
His security team initially looked i into how private messages were o obtained by the paper, owned by A American Media Inc. AMI insisted it was tipped off by the estranged brother of Mr Bezos’s girlfriend.
But his team has now claimed with ‘ high confidence’ that the Saudis gained private information by accessing Mr Bezos’s phone. Sources told The T Guardian that analysis found it was highly probable that the WhatsApp phone hacking in 2018 was triggered by an infected video file sent from the Saudi heir’s account.
It is not known what data was stolen from the phone or how it was distributed. Saudi Arabia has previously denied targeting Mr Bezos’s phone after Gavin De Becker, head of security for the Amazon founder, said he had provided details of his investigation to law officials.
He did not publicly reveal any information on how the Saudis had accessed the phone.
The Guardian said that United
Nations special rapporteur Agnes Callamard had reviewed the forensic analysis of Mr Bezos’s phone and indications that hacking originated from a corrupt file sent from the prince’s account.
It is understood the evidence is credible enough for investigators to consider a formal approach asking Saudi Arabia for an explanation.
Mr Bezos and the Crown Prince, known as MBS, attended a Hollywood
dinner just weeks before the alleged hacking took place. The dinner was part of the Saudi leader’s American tour and included stops at the White House, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. The revelation that the future Saudi king may have been personally involved with targeting the world’s richest man will have major repercussions worldwide.
It could also undermine MBS’s efforts to lure more Western investors to Saudi Arabia. American Middle East expert Andrew Miller, who served under President Barack Obama, said: ‘It is clear that the Saudis have no real boundaries or limits in terms of what they are prepared to do in order to protect and advance MBS whether it is going after the head of one of the largest companies in the world or a dissident who is on their own.’
A lawyer for the Amazon boss, 56, said Mr Bezos is ‘co-operating with investigations’. The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘No boundaries or limits’