By Jacob Gershman 

Michael Sanchez, the brother of Jeff Bezos' girlfriend, is alleging in a lawsuit that the publisher of the National Enquirer defamed him when it claimed that he was the source of the tabloid's 2019 exposé about the Amazon.com Inc. founder's extramarital affair.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles, centers around the publication of a January 2019 article in the National Enquirer exposing an affair between Mr. Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, Mr. Sanchez's sister, both of whom were married at the time. Mr. Bezos and Ms. Sanchez remain in a relationship.

Mr. Sanchez, a talent manager, alleges that National Enquirer parent American Media Inc. issued "a false and defamatory press release" in March 2019 saying Mr. Sanchez tipped off the tabloid about the affair and "provided all of the materials" for its investigation.

Mr. Sanchez says he wasn't AMI's source about the affair and didn't leak nude photos. His lawsuit alleges it was AMI that "plotted to dig up embarrassing information" about Mr. Bezos to curry favor with President Trump and was aided by Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials have rejected the idea that they helped the Enquirer.

Mr. Sanchez claims his involvement in the story was limited to advising the couple on guarding the relationship's secrecy.

AMI's "false and defamatory statements have, among other things, devastated Mr. Sanchez's professional career and reputation, destroyed the invaluable media relationships...and left him estranged from his own family," the lawsuit stated.

In a statement issued through a spokesman Saturday, AMI maintained that Mr. Sanchez "sold the National Enquirer the story about his sister's secret affair and was the sole source for its reporting." AMI said the lawsuit was frivolous and motivated by greed.

"We look forward to our day in court," said Jonathan M. Jenkins, a Los Angeles attorney representing Mr. Sanchez.

Mr. Sanchez's complaint also names AMI's chairman and chief executive, David Pecker, and its chief content officer, Dylan Howard, as defendants.

Mr. Sanchez earlier this year sued Mr. Bezos for defamation in state court in Los Angeles. That complaint, which Mr. Bezos is seeking to dismiss, accuses representatives of the Amazon CEO of spreading false rumors that he leaked graphic photos of Mr. Bezos to the press.

In court documents, lawyers for Mr. Bezos and his security consultant, Gavin de Becker, have said Mr. Sanchez was the source of leaked personal text messages used for the January 2019 National Enquirer article about the affair. Neither Mr. Bezos nor Mr. de Becker have accused Mr. Sanchez of leaking nude photos to the Enquirer, court documents said.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating the alleged hack of Mr. Bezos' phone and whether National Enquirer's publisher attempted to extort Mr. Bezos. In a blog post last year, Mr. Bezos accused American Media of trying to blackmail him by threatening to release embarrassing photos.

Write to Jacob Gershman at jacob.gershman@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 28, 2020 15:19 ET (19:19 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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