Amazon boss Jeff Bezos sued by girlfriend\'s brother for accusing him of leaking couple\'s intimate pictures

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos sued by girlfriend's brother for accusing him of leaking couple's intimate pictures

Lauren's brother accuses Bezos and his consultant Gavin de Becker of peddling "false narrative" that he betrayed his sister by leaking private chats and pictures

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. Photo: Reuters

Amazon founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is once again embroiled in a controversy involving his family life with his brother-in-law filing a defamation lawsuit against him. Michael Sanchez, the brother of Bezos' girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, has alleged Bezos falsely accused him of leaking "graphic, nude photographs" of the couple to media.

Sanchez has claimed following Bezos' allegations his house was searched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sleuths.

The relationship between Bezos and Lauren became public after The Enquirer, on January 9 last year, published several text messages between the couple. It also claimed to have access to their intimate pictures, which it didn't publish.

Lauren's brother accused Bezos and his consultant Gavin de Becker of peddling "false narrative" that he betrayed his sister by leaking private chats and pictures. William Isaacson, Bezos' lawyer, has said his client (Bezos) will soon address the lawsuit in court.

Terry Bird, Lauren Sanchez's lawyer, told The New York Times: "Michael is my older brother. He secretly provided my most personal information to 'The National Enquirer' - a deep and unforgivable betrayal. My family is hurting over this new baseless and untrue lawsuit, and we truly hope my brother finds peace."

Last year in February, Bezos in a blog post had indicated that The Enquirer got info to do the story after his phone was hacked by Saudi Arabia.

His consultant Becker linked the hack to The Washington Post's coverage of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. Khashoggi was killed in October 2018 -- five months after the alleged "hacking" of Bezos' phone.

Months after the report, Jeff Bezos and former wife MacKenzie announced divorce and entered into a settlement in April 2019. The UK-based news daily The Guardian reported last month that Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos' mobile phone was reportedly "hacked" by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in 2018.

The phone's security was compromised after he opened a malicious video file sent from the crown prince's number on his WhatsApp, it said. Citing anonymous sources in the know of an international probe into the matter, The Guardian reported the two (Bezos and Saudi Crown Prince) had exchanged friendly messages on WhatsApp.