Jeff Bezos Pushes for Immediate Dismissal of Michael Sanchez's Defamation Suit
February 04 2020 - 3:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Corinne Ramey
Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos asked a California judge to
throw out a defamation lawsuit against him, saying he didn't accuse
his girlfriend's brother of leaking nude photos.
The argument, made in court documents filed Monday in state
court in Los Angeles, comes in response to a lawsuit filed last
week by Michael Sanchez, a talent agent and the brother of Mr.
Bezos' girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez. In that lawsuit, Mr. Sanchez
accused Mr. Bezos and his representatives of spreading false rumors
that Mr. Sanchez leaked nude photographs of Mr. Bezos to the
press.
Mr. Bezos and Gavin de Becker, the Amazon founder's security
chief whom Mr. Sanchez also named as a defendant, also said Mr.
Sanchez was the source of leaked personal text messages used for a
January 2019 National Enquirer article. They pointed to a March
2019 public statement made by American Media Inc., the tabloid's
publisher, saying Mr. Sanchez tipped off the tabloid about the
affair and "provided all of the materials" for its
investigation.
The lawyers accused Mr. Sanchez of trying to exploit a media
controversy that he helped to create.
"By filing this lawsuit, Mr. Sanchez hopes to put himself back
on the front pages and extract money from Defendants by leveraging
the current media environment to harass them," wrote lawyers for
Mr. Bezos and Mr. de Becker.
Mr. Bezos' lawyers' arguments were made under a California law
that allows for early dismissal of some lawsuits that could chill
free speech.
A lawyer for Mr. Sanchez didn't respond to a request for
comment.
A lawyer for Ms. Sanchez declined to comment. Her lawyer
previously provided a statement on Ms. Sanchez's behalf saying that
her brother committed a "deep and unforgivable betrayal" by
providing her personal information to the National Enquirer.
A lawyer for Mr. Bezos declined to comment beyond the
filing.
The allegations in Mr. Sanchez's lawsuit revolve around the
publication of a January 2019 article in the National Enquirer that
made public an affair between Mr. Bezos and Ms. Sanchez, who were
both married at the time. Mr. Bezos and Ms. Sanchez remain in a
relationship.
In his lawsuit, Mr. Sanchez says he became involved in the
tabloid's story in an effort to control the narrative around his
sister's relationship. He denied leaking "graphic, nude photos" to
the tabloid.
In the court documents, lawyers for Messrs. Bezos and de Becker
make a distinction between personal text messages provided to the
National Enquirer and the supposed nude photos referenced by Mr.
Sanchez in his suit. Neither Mr. Bezos nor Mr. de Becker have
accused Mr. Sanchez of leaking nude photos to the Enquirer, the
court documents say.
Similarly, news articles on the subject, including one in The
Wall Street Journal, say Mr. Sanchez leaked personal information,
but not specifically nude photographs, the lawyers say.
American Media Inc., the tabloid's publisher, has said in a
public statement that Mr. Sanchez tipped off the tabloid about the
affair and "provided all of the materials" for its
investigation.
The filings also contain two draft complaints that Mr. de Becker
says prior lawyers retained by Mr. Sanchez had previously emailed
him. One of these complaints makes federal racketeering claims
against Mr. Bezos, alleging he surrounded himself with "fixers" and
"whitewashers" who lied about Mr. Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez also says in
that draft complaint that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents
served him with a subpoena at his home in April 2019, and he
testified before a grand jury in New York a month later.
A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office declined to
comment. Federal prosecutors have been investigating an alleged
hack of Mr. Bezos' phone and whether American Media Inc. attempted
to blackmail Mr. Bezos, as the Amazon head has claimed.
Write to Corinne Ramey at Corinne.Ramey@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 04, 2020 15:16 ET (20:16 GMT)
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