Last Thursday, Jeff Bezos published a juicy, scandalous, conspiratorial essay in Medium. Bezos accused David Pecker and the National Enquirer of trying to blackmail him – Pecker wanted Bezos to shut down his private investigation into how the Enquirer got all of his texts and selfies or the Enquirer would publish more of the texts and selfies. Bezos’ marriage is already over, and he’s reportedly very much in love with Lauren Sanchez, his mistress/jumpoff. So, several questions were out there: did someone hack Bezos’ phone, and if so, who? Was all of this about politics, and was there a direct connection between Trump, Pecker and the Bezos texts? Well, the Daily Beast has *some* answers. Maybe.
The brother of Jeff Bezos’ mistress, Lauren Sanchez, supplied the couple’s racy texts to the National Enquirer, multiple sources inside AMI, the tabloid’s parent company, told The Daily Beast. Another source who has been in extensive communication with senior leaders at AMI confirmed that Michael Sanchez first supplied Bezos’ texts to the Enquirer.
AMI has previously refused to identify the source of the texts, but a lawyer for the company strongly hinted at Sanchez’s role during a Sunday morning interview on ABC.
“The story was given to the National Enquirer by a reliable source that had given information to the National Enquirer for seven years prior to this story. It was a source that was well known to both Mr. Bezos and Ms. Sanchez,” attorney Elkan Abramowitz told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
Asked directly whether Sanchez was the source, Abramowitz said, “I can’t discuss who the source was. It’s confidential within AMI.”
As The Daily Beast was the first to report, Bezos launched his own investigation into who leaked the texts. The security consultant he hired, Gavin de Becker, has repeatedly declined to disclose the findings of his investigation, including whether or not it had determined Sanchez was the culprit. But he did say the probe is over and the results will be turned over to the authorities.
“Our investigation into who initially provided texts to the National Enquirer, and why it was done—that investigation is now complete. We have turned our conclusions over to our attorneys for referral to law enforcement,” de Becker told The Daily Beast on Sunday. “Our investigation into what the National Enquirer and [publisher] AMI did after they received the initial texts—that investigation is ongoing,” he added.
There’s something I’ve been wondering about for days, ever since Jeff Bezos did the Medium essay. People keep going on and on about how Jeff Bezos is the richest man and he has the best technology, so it would be super-difficult for anyone – or any government – to hack him. But wouldn’t a good spy agency (or random hacker) know that? Wouldn’t they go for the “weaker link,” which is Lauren Sanchez and her phone and communications? What I’m saying is that I believe the texts and photos came from Lauren Sanchez’s phone, not Jeff Bezos. Now, did Lauren’s brother simply pick up her phone and copy everything? Or was her phone hacked by her brother? I really don’t know. No one does. But yeah, I think it’s worth paying closer attention to the brother.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I’ve got a bridge to sell to anyone that believes the story about the brother.
It’ll be hacking. NSA type stuff. And those behind it are going to dump stories in the next few days blaming her brother.
I mean OBVIOUSLY AMI is going to try to drop hints it was the brother because it takes heat off of the even more illegal ways they obtained this stuff.
So obvious that Dump’s team is behind it, and like you said, NSA-type hacking into LAURA SANCHEZ’S phone. No way Bezos doesn’t have huge precautions on his side. Then again, he was stupid enough to send d!ck pics over the cloud, so there’s that. PEOPLE: TAKE POLAROIDS! lol. Hey Jeff, you even sell it on YOUR website: https://www.amazon.com/Polaroid-Originals-OneStep-VF-White/dp/B07C5HY1HJ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1549903366&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=polaroid+camera&psc=1
I thought I read somewhere that brother is a HUGE deplorable and he had meetings with Stone and Page. What an unholy trinity!
In any case, I hope the bloom is off the rose with Lauren Sanchez. Tacky AF.
My brother, who hasn’t a clue about celebrity crap, actually said to me a few days ago, “God, that Lauren Sanchez a slimy heap of sleaze. I wonder if Bezos will dump her ass, soon?”
Yep that’s the only good thing about this. She sounds like a honey trap. No way is the bro smart enough to hack.
I highly doubt most people don’t have a password. My siblings don’t know mine. So either she’s super stupid about security, very close with her brother or he hacked her.
Did he do it solely for a payday? Because he’s pro-trump and hates Bezos for his sister? Did he do it with permission?
He probably asked to borrow her phone, called the person who could download the malware, and they did. Most of us would hand our phone to a sibling to make a call.
Perhaps there are aspects we don’t know.
Perhaps Bezos was asked if he wanted to buy those pics and he declined? Blackmail essentially. It would make sense as he is rich.
Will Smith said in one of his youtube videos that he has 10-15 lawsuits per year for all sorts of things.
How did he obtain the texts? Was she sharing the information through her brother to break up the marriage and “win” Bezos from his wife?
Yes to all of this.
On Friday, someone commented (sorry I can’t remember who) that this might be a “Honey Trap” situation. It’s possible that Lauren AND her brother were in on this the whole time. With this story, anything is possible!
And, I wouldn’t doubt that she set him up . . .
I heard the theory that she may be a honeypot just last night. I think it’s plausible. Her husband’s connections seem shady? Who knows. I don’t believe the brother is the only connection, for sure (sounds like Israel may have sold the Saudis some kind of cell phone hacking superpower software?). Also, Gavin de Becker must be frantic to turn over every rock on this one, because he and his agency are on the hook for not protecting Bezos.
I’m sure he’ll get to the bottom of it though–he sounds very capable as does his team of experts. Plus, I’m sure Bezos has set aside some money to get those answers — one way or another. If I were Bezos, I would spend, spend, spend to crush EVERYONE involved.
To me it seems like the ONLY time a rich person ACTUALLY PAYS for their crimes–is when they do something to another rich person. So…I’m counting on people going to jail…
Gavin de Becker is retained by Jeff Bezos for this exact purpose, and it seems like he’s concluded his investigations into the matter and turned over his report to Bezos. He’s not charged with protecting Bezos as much as he’s charged with investigating any potential leaks.
“Israel may have sold the Saudis some kind of cell phone hacking superpower software?” There’s really no such thing? There’s software that can crack pass codes and guess passwords and stuff like that, but the truth is that if someone wants something from your phone, they don’t need to guess your pass code in order to get that information. And if Bezos’ cellphone stores backup of his information on some kind of cloud server, as a lot of phones do these days, then all you really need to do is find a way to break into that. And there are plenty of mundane ways to do that. Hacking isn’t actually that difficult to accomplish tbh.
The best home security system is useless if you leave open the door. Same with these pics. Bezos might have protected his phone but Sanchez? Who knows?
It is all so odd, to think that your brother could sell you out like this! My brothers are trumpsters. I don’t think they would do this to me, but how do I know? I mean, they are totally brainwashed cultists so who knows. But I do think she herself may have been involved. I hate to say something like this because I don’t think looks are the main reason anyone of any substance is ever with anyone – but I am sorry, my GAWD his ex wife his so much better looking than this woman. I mean, it is just glaring. Of course, physical attraction wears off after so many years, and kids and all, so I can see how it doesn’t matter.
Still…it’s glaring.
That was me, curious if this was a honeypot deal. Also, I read last night that Jeff B and Lauren S have not been seen together recently. Huh. Adds to the mystery.
Of course they haven’t. It makes complete sense that they’ve been told to keep a low profile until this stuff blows over or they get to the bottom of it. They probably don’t want to add fuel to the media fire.
OR he got rid of her. I would.
He’s a man and she’s the side piece. He’s not getting rid of her. Trust me. He got rid of his wife first, remember?
Let’s wait and see. Perhaps they are just lying low. Perhaps it is over. Perhaps Bezos found out that he can have lots of sex with lots of beautiful women because he is RICH.
Just read new CBS article about this…
deplorable brother is 100 percent correct:
“they have conducted multiple interviews with Michael Sanchez, the brother of Bezos’ girlfriend. They say Sanchez, a Trump supporter, discussed the matter with Roger Stone and Carter Page, two of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders.”
As much trouble both Carter Page and Roger Stone have, I seriously doubt they would get involved in this stupid teenage mess.
You’re being sarcastic, right? Those guys are the ultimate sleazy Tr**p fixers who would gleefully insert themselves into anything to “help” their Dear Leader. It will come out, never fear.
She’s one surgery away from Jocelyn Wildenstein territory.
The picture of her in red: I don’t get how someone’s upper lip can be fuller at both outer corners than in the middle.
I’ve been staring at the photo too, wondering HOW a mouth can look like that. It’s like she’s struggling to smile through all the mutation.
She is still giving me LadyBoy vibe, a badly done job
Wow nice and transphobic
Mmm.. I get she’s had shocker work done but maybe chose a different descriptor? I agree with Gareelana.
I think it is her eyes/cheekbones which give her this look. And her face is too tight / too many fillers. I get why there is a slight ladyboy vibe in her face.
Did she text everything to her brother? “Look at me! I nailed the richest man in the world! Woohoo!” She seems suspect. I hope the soon to be ex Mrs. Bezos gets at least half his money.
It’s THEIR money not HIS money. They earned it together. Why wouldn’t she get half?
Did you notice the “at least” part of the sentence? She deserves more based on his shitty behavior.
But she was already married to someone super rich, so it’s very hard to figure out her motive–which I agree seems suspect.
Greed knows no bounds. Plus, as others have suggested, it could be a setup.
Not as rich as Bezos. She is a super duper gold digger so as soon as she found someone with at least one dollar more her hubby was toast.
She is/was married to Patrick Whitesell. Who also has some Saudi connections and Ari Emanuel is his biz partner.
From what I’ve read, my impression of Lauren Sanchez is that she’s a lot of fun, and charismatic in the way that a lot of men really like. She has the same kind of energy as Miranda Lambert probably, in that men gravitate towards her at first glance. There are a lot of people who aren’t necessarily good looking, but they’re vivacious and outgoing and “a breath of fresh air” as some people would say. And whether or not she’s a gold-digger, Jeff Bezos seems really gone for her if the leaked texts are anything to go by. He’s no Byron or Yeats, but “alive girl”? What kind of man texts that type of thing to a woman??
Surely Trump’s people are behind this. They will spread chaos, muddy the waters, create alternate “truths” to choose from, cycles of deny to admit, etc. Instead of the fog of war, it’s the fog of trump.
They’re already doing it in this thread: Sanchez is complicit, Bezos is a disgusting cheater, etc. Pretty hilarious coming from men working for Tr**p, the man who cheated on all his wives, raped the first one, used and paid off porn stars during his marriages, talked about grabbing p*ssies, etc. Such a paragon of virtue, such an enormous hypocrite, who is only having his operatives attempt this “scandal” because Bezos can buy and sell him a million times over – and still have a huge fortune. His envy is palpable.
I think it’s like Malcolm Nance said…Sanchez’s brother was able to let NSA type experts…from another country…like…say…Russia/Israel/Saudi Arabia/Turkey/NK gain access to her phone…and he could do THAT…by placing HIS phone…next to HER phone…
That’s all it takes….
Wow. That’s crazy… and I totally believe it.
Just like in “Person of Interest” tv show. That was a major tactic in that show. They could clone any phone in .28 secs. hahaha Who knows.
That is wild. That sounds like something out Person of Interest when they used to pair the phones. Wow. haha I posted this before I saw your comment Cranberry. POI is totally where my mind went too. Miss that show.
This sounds like an insane conspiracy theory, sorry. Why in the world would North Korea want to hack the personal e-mail of Jeff Bezos? If they’re that capable, why wouldn’t they hack into Amazon’s cybersecurity itself? And don’t say that it’s because they want to “destabilize the country.” Cybersec experts around the world have pointed out that countries like China and Russia and other places have the capacity to hack into and shut down power utilities nationwide if they want. When you have that kind of capability, you’re not going to go around hacking into one man’s personal life like this, especially when rumours and gossip about the subject are probably free and less of a waste of resources.
I can believe her brother “hacked” her phone. I recently was playing with my sister’s phone and unlocked it on the first try. She used her birthday as her passcode. When Kanye went to the white house, we all found out his passcode for his phone was 0000. Despite money or age, there are a lot of people, who use the most obvious passcodes.
Anyway, I want an old school movie of the week based on this whole ordeal. This whole thing is hilarious, tawdry and frustrating. It would be a gem to watch.
He could also send her a text with malware in it.
I’m curious about the politics of Ms Sanchez and her husband. Her brother is an open Trump supporter. What about her? Roger Stone, Pecker, and Trump live in the land of honey pots, so it wouldn’t be a surprise. All of those Jackie Collins novels I read as a teen don’t seem so fantastic after all, lol! Jackie Collins used to say her novels were based on stuff she heard and knew about, but she didn’t name names and emphasized that she was writing fiction.
I just feel SO bad for his kids. They’re old enough to be reading all about their dad. From what I read, her kids are used to her digging up, but still… mom of the year there. Imagine reading about your mom like this.
Isn’t her brother her manager?
Does anyone know if that’s her brother in the picture?
The DM shows a different looking guy as her brother. Maybe her husband?
Ok, thanks.
If her brother leaked them, it’s because she wanted him too.
“The story was given to the National Enquirer by a reliable source that had given information to the National Enquirer for seven years prior to this story.”
Why would her brother be a source for the National Enquirer for seven years?!
“Jeff Bezos is the richest man and he has the best technology, so it would be super-difficult for anyone – or any government – to hack him”
No. I know a lot of people who work in cybersecurity, and having a full and complete lock on all of your information is exceptionally difficult. You can do your due diligence and take all the precautions possible, but there will always be vulnerabilities, either with the devices you use or the protocols that you’re using to protect and encrypt your information. All the money in the world and the best technology doesn’t mean much when the technology itself has its shortcomings.
My guess is that it’s likely one of the people who work for Jeff Bezos or Lauren Sanchez in a close capacity. A secretary or a PA or something like that. Someone who has access to his phone and e-mail and cloud storage. When you have the access, you can download things off of there pretty easily.
I’m so over the constant remarks about Sanchez being a gold digger, and now apparently a honey pot. What proof do we have? She’s been with her husband since 2005 and they have three kids (including her son born in 2001) I don’t see anywhere that she has a history of dating multiple men just to extract money from them. Besides, whoever ends up with Bezos is going to be marrying up; he’s the richest man in the world by far (since Putin doesn’t count). And Jeff Bezo’s will be just fine; I don’t think he needs anyone to protect from Sanchez’s supposed gold diggin ways.
I get that they may have had an affair and that she has a lot of plastic surgery but she also started her own business (which to my understanding is the only female owned aerial film company), is a licensed pilot, was a news anchor for years, hosted a TV show, and has continued to work over the course of the years while being a parent – and was married to the same man for almost 15 years; a man who himself is worth almost half a billion dollars.
But let’s just call her a gold digger because we don’t like her.
Well said.
Just because you’re rich and own your own business doesn’t mean that you can’t be a gold digger and want to marry someone who is filthy rich
But Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world. Any woman he marries in the future is going to be marrying up, which seems to be the only criteria needed for someone to be classified as a gold digger. In contrast, Lauren Sanchez has done her own thing for a more than a decade. There are plenty of men richer than her husband, although not as rich as Jeff Bezos, who she could have gone after in that time, if she were really a gold digger. But she’s had a steady marriage and a career of her own. Why would she suddenly decide, after all this time, that none of that is enough?
Yeah and I’m still waiting for someone to provide proof that she’s a gold digger just because she’s dating Jeff Bezos; or are all women who marry wealthy men gold diggers these days? Does it apply to Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle, Melinda Gates, whoever Elon Musk is dating, and all the other women who married wealthy men? Or just somebody like Sanchez because she has bad plastic surgery? It’s just cheap name calling and it’s done far too often when it comes to stories that involve women that aren’t anyone’s faves. It’s akin to calling a woman a slut because you don’t like her clothes.
Also worth pointing out, Jeff Bezos and Patrick Whitesell (Lauren Sanchez’s husband) have been friends for years I think. The two couples used to hang out all the time. If she were really a gold digger, wouldn’t she have dumped her husband years ago by now and made her move already?
child in 2001 and marriage in 2005. It doesn’t lead to any definite conclusions but usually couples plan this the other way around.
Also she has an affair with a married man who now gets divorced. No definite conclusions but it does look fishy from my twee middle class morals.
Also her plastic surgery wasn’t designed to make her younger but a lot sexier, too. Nothing wrong with that, though.
Best argument why she isn’t a golddigger? She doesn’t have much to gain financially. I bet there is a prenup with her rich first husband and likely there will be a prenup with Bezos should they marry. If she gets together with Bezos she will have a man who cheated on his wife with her and who is known to exploit his employees see 23. .
I like Jeff Bezos. I don’t like what he did to his wife with his affair and upcoming divorce. That was some swift Karma that kicked him in the butt with the National Enquirer scandal.
Bezos exploits his staff in these amazon logistics centers by underpaying and overworking them. I don’t have much pity with this couple.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/08/amazon-jeff-bezos-unionize-working-conditions