Michael Sanchez says Amazon.com founder spread false rumor he
leaked nude photos
By Corinne Ramey and Joe Palazzolo
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (February 3, 2020).
Michael Sanchez, the brother of Jeff Bezos' girlfriend, sued the
Amazon.com Inc. founder for defamation, alleging his
representatives spread false rumors to news outlets that Mr.
Sanchez provided graphic nude photos of Mr. Bezos to the press.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in California state court in Los
Angeles, also names as a defendant Gavin de Becker, a security
consultant hired by Mr. Bezos. Mr. Sanchez, a talent manager,
claims Mr. de Becker worked with Mr. Bezos to spread false
statements about the public disclosure of Mr. Bezos' affair with
Lauren Sanchez, Mr. Sanchez's sister.
A lawyer for Mr. Bezos said, "My client has chosen to address
this lawsuit in court and we will do that soon."
A lawyer representing Ms. Sanchez provided a statement on her
behalf. It said, "Michael is my older brother. He secretly provided
my most personal information to the National Enquirer -- a deep and
unforgivable betrayal."
A lawyer for Mr. Sanchez said, "Michael's lawsuit speaks for
itself."
Mr. de Becker didn't respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Sanchez's lawsuit acknowledges that he helped publicize the
relationship in an attempt to get out in front of news about the
relationship.
His lawsuit concerns what he says was a campaign by Mr. Bezos
and Mr. de Becker to blame Mr. Sanchez for turning over graphic
nude photographs, which Mr. Sanchez denies doing. People familiar
with Mr. Sanchez's dealings with the tabloid said he showed a
below-the-belt selfie of Mr. Bezos to the Enquirer, without
providing a copy, but turned over other images.
The lawsuit comes amid renewed scrutiny over the source of
photos obtained by the National Enquirer around the time it
published a January 2019 article. The tabloid published photos of
Mr. Bezos and Ms. Sanchez in public, but it withheld photos it said
Mr. Sanchez sold to the Enquirer.
Last month, a forensic audit commissioned by Mr. Bezos alleged
that his phone was hacked by a WhatsApp account associated with
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi government has
called that allegation absurd.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating the alleged
hack of Mr. Bezos' phone and whether National Enquirer parent
American Media Inc. 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.
The post included an email from Enquirer editor Dylan Howard to
Mr. Bezos' lawyer in which Mr. Howard described sexualized photos
of the Amazon chief executive he said the tabloid had obtained, as
well as a below-the-belt selfie.
Mr. Sanchez has denied giving the Enquirer "the many penis
selfies" but declined to comment when asked by The Wall Street
Journal whether he gave other photos of Mr. Bezos to the
Enquirer.
Prosecutors have evidence showing that at least some texts
supplied to the National Enquirer by Mr. Sanchez came from his
sister's phone, the Journal has previously reported.
In the lawsuit, Mr. Sanchez, who previously worked as his
sister's manager, said he was involved in publicizing Mr. Bezos'
and Ms. Sanchez's relationship. The couple was initially told by a
psychic in New Mexico to keep their relationship secret after their
affair began in 2017, according to Mr. Sanchez.
After the publication of photos of the couple at a July 2018
event, news outlets began to ask questions, according to Mr.
Sanchez's lawsuit. According to the suit, Mr. Sanchez tried to
control the narrative and timing of the story around his sister's
relationship by entering into a confidential deal with American
Media.
A contract reviewed by the Journal states that Mr. Sanchez was
paid $200,000 by American Media. The contract gave the company
exclusive rights to "certain information, photographs, and text
messages documenting an affair between Jeff Bezos and Lauren
Sanchez."
After the National Enquirer's January 2019 article made the
relationship public, Mr. Bezos asked Mr. de Becker to investigate
the source of the photos, the lawsuit said.
Mr. Sanchez says he became "a target" of Mr. de Becker's
investigation and that the security consultant, at the direction of
Mr. Bezos, spread false narratives about the photos. One article
published last year in the Daily Beast names Mr. Sanchez as the
source of graphic photographs, and cites Amazon investigators, the
lawsuit claims. The Daily Beast didn't respond to a request for
comment.
Mr. Sanchez's suit also claims Mr. Bezos and Mr. de Becker
peddled what it says were false rumors to reporters that Mr.
Sanchez "was involved in a conservative conspiracy with
high-profile political operatives" and the Saudi government.
The suit says Mr. de Becker seized on Mr. Sanchez's relationship
with two former advisers to President Trump -- Carter Page and
Roger Stone -- as evidence that he was working with them against
Mr. Bezos. Mr. Page confirmed that Mr. Sanchez helped him find
business during a difficult period in his life but declined to
comment further. Mr. Stone declined to comment. As the owner of the
Washington Post, Mr. Bezos has been a frequent target of Mr.
Trump's criticism about the reliability of news organizations.
After the Enquirer published its article on the affair last
year, American Media sought to tamp down suggestions that it
targeted Mr. Bezos for political reasons. The media company offered
to withhold unpublished photos of Mr. Bezos, including the one
reviewed by the Journal, if Mr. Bezos agreed to make a public
statement absolving the media company of any political motivation
for the story, according to Mr. Bezos' blog post.
In the lawsuit, Mr. Sanchez says that reporters have been
hesitant to work with him on matters about his other clients since
the allegations about the photographs.
"All of these actions, including Mr. de Becker's promulgation of
the false information and Mr. Bezos' refusal to contradict that
false information, caused Mr. Sanchez's reputation to suffer damage
on a national scale, as well as causing him to suffer emotional
distress," the complaint says.
Mr. Sanchez claims false statements by Mr. Bezos and Mr. de
Becker led to, among other things, a Federal Bureau of
Investigation raid at his house, loss of business opportunities and
estrangement from his family.
The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages.
--Alex Leary contributed to this article.
Write to Corinne Ramey at Corinne.Ramey@wsj.com and Joe
Palazzolo at joe.palazzolo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 03, 2020 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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