XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.democrats.d, sac.general   
   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: losers@latimes.com   
      
   Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have evidence indicating Jeff   
   Bezos ’ girlfriend provided text messages to her brother that he   
   then sold to the National Enquirer for its article about the   
   Amazon.com Inc. founder’s affair, according to people familiar   
   with the matter.   
      
   The text messages, which were reviewed by The Wall Street   
   Journal, were among the materials turned over to federal   
   prosecutors as part of their investigation into whether American   
   Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, attempted to   
   extort Mr. Bezos, the people said. The U.S. attorney’s office   
   has also been investigating whether Mr. Bezos’ phone was hacked,   
   according to the people.   
      
   The evidence gathered by federal prosecutors includes a May 10,   
   2018, text message sent from the phone of Lauren Sanchez, Mr.   
   Bezos’ girlfriend, to her brother Michael Sanchez containing a   
   flirtatious message from the Amazon chief, the people said.   
      
   The Enquirer quoted the text in its January 2019 article about   
   Mr. Bezos’ extramarital affair with Ms. Sanchez. A July 3, 2018,   
   text message sent from Ms. Sanchez’s phone to her brother’s   
   includes a photo of a shirtless Mr. Bezos.   
      
   Mr. Bezos’ security consultant, Gavin de Becker, suggested in an   
   opinion article last year for the Daily Beast that Saudi Arabia   
   might have had a hand in the Enquirer’s reporting on Mr. Bezos.   
   The claim resurfaced this week after a forensic audit   
   commissioned by Mr. Bezos alleged that his phone was hacked   
   using a WhatsApp account associated with Saudi Crown Prince   
   Mohammed bin Salman.   
      
   The text messages reviewed by the Journal, as well as a $200,000   
   payment Mr. Sanchez received from the Enquirer under an October   
   2018 contract the Journal also reviewed, supports American   
   Media’s earlier statements that he was the source for the   
   National Enquirer’s article.   
      
   The Saudi government said the allegation that the crown prince   
   hacked Mr. Bezos’ phone was absurd and called for an   
   investigation.   
      
   “In September of 2018, Michael Sanchez began providing all   
   materials and information to our reporters,” a spokesman for   
   American Media said Friday. He added that any suggestion that a   
   third party, such as Saudi Arabia, “was involved in or in any   
   way influenced our reporting is false.”   
      
   Mr. Sanchez declined to comment on the texts or his contract   
   with American Media. “With spoon-fed lies and half-truths, Wall   
   Street Journal keeps getting it wrong,” Mr. Sanchez said in an   
   emailed statement.   
      
   Ms. Sanchez didn’t respond to requests for comment. An attorney   
   for Mr. Bezos declined to comment.   
      
   Federal prosecutors haven’t charged Michael Sanchez, Lauren   
   Sanchez or anyone else with a crime in the probe.   
      
   Mr. Bezos’ affair with Ms. Sanchez, a former television reporter   
   who started an aerial film-production company, was publicized   
   the same month he and his now ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, said   
   their 25-year marriage was ending. They agreed to a divorce   
   settlement in April.   
      
   Mr. Bezos, the richest man in the world, made a public   
   appearance with Ms. Sanchez at an event in Mumbai on Jan. 16.   
      
   The Amazon chief is the owner of the Washington Post, where the   
   late columnist Jamal Khashoggi wrote critically of the kingdom’s   
   leadership before he was slain last October by a Saudi security   
   team. The CIA, in a secret assessment reviewed by the Journal,   
   said that Prince Mohammed likely ordered Mr. Khashoggi’s death,   
   although it acknowledged it didn’t have direct evidence of a   
   kill order by the Saudi crown prince.   
      
   On Wednesday, United Nations officials probing Mr. Khashoggi’s   
   death called on U.S. authorities to investigate the findings of   
   the audit commissioned by Mr. Bezos.   
      
   The October 2018 contract between Mr. Sanchez and American Media   
   gave the company exclusive rights to “certain information,   
   photographs, and text messages documenting an affair between   
   Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez.”   
      
   Mr. Sanchez, a talent agent who has managed television pundits   
   and reality-show judges, declared in his contract with American   
   Media that he acquired the texts and photographs lawfully,   
   according to the agreement.   
      
   The New York Times earlier reported that American Media provided   
   evidence to federal prosecutors that Ms. Sanchez sent texts to   
   her brother involving Mr. Bezos.   
      
   Write to Joe Palazzolo at joe.palazzolo@wsj.com and Corinne   
   Ramey at Corinne.Ramey@wsj.com   
      
   https://www.wsj.com/articles/prosecutors-have-evidence-bezos-   
      
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