XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.democrats.d, sac.general   
   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: losers@latimes.com   
      
   Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accused his girlfriend’s brother of   
   seeking to extort him by suing for defamation, according to a   
   court filing.   
   The brother, Michael Sanchez, accused Bezos of spreading false   
   rumors he leaked intimate photos to the National Enquirer.   
   Bezos’ lawyers filed a motion to strike the suit, saying the   
   defamation claim “fails the most basic of requirements.”   
      
   Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accused his girlfriend’s brother of   
   seeking to extort him by suing for defamation, according to a   
   court filing.   
      
   Responding to a defamation complaint by Michael Sanchez, lawyers   
   for Bezos and his security chief Gavin de Becker filed a motion   
   to strike the suit Friday in the Superior Court of California in   
   Los Angeles County. In the lawsuit, Sanchez accused Bezos and de   
   Becker of spreading inaccurate rumors to journalists that he had   
   leaked nude photos of the CEO to the National Enquirer.   
      
   Last February, Bezos alleged in a Medium post that National   
   Enquirer publisher American Media (AMI) blackmailed him by   
   threatening to publish intimate photos of him and his   
   girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, a former TV anchor. Bezos claimed   
   they threatened to publish photos, including a “below the belt   
   selfie,” if he refused to say the outlet’s coverage of him was   
   not politically motivated. De Becker said his investigation   
   found Michael Sanchez to be the paid source for the Enquirer. An   
   AMI spokesperson previously told CNBC that Michael Sanchez was   
   the single source for the story.   
      
   In their court filing, Bezos and de Becker’s lawyers say neither   
   has ever accused Sanchez of leaking nude photos in particular.   
   The filing says Sanchez’s claims do not meet the standards for   
   defamation since the statements were “substantially true” and   
   that Sanchez should be considered a public figure in the context   
   of this situation, according to the defendants.   
      
   “Mr. Sanchez’s defamation claim fails the most basic of   
   requirements: it fails to identify any instance in which   
   Defendants, or even any news report, published or made any of   
   the alleged statements about him,” the filing claims.   
      
   The defendants accuse Sanchez of being driven by money and a   
   desire for more publicity.   
      
   “Extortion rears its head again in this lawsuit, this time not   
   only aimed at Defendants but also directly threatening speech   
   protected under the First Amendment,” the filing claims. “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. But no matter what   
   Michael Sanchez says or how many times he repeats himself, at   
   the heart of his Complaint lies the same public controversy he   
   helped generate and has tried to exploit—and from which he   
   surreptitiously earned $200,000.”   
      
   Michael Sanchez did not immediately respond to a request for   
   comment.   
      
   https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/bezos-says-lawsuit-filed-by-   
   girlfriends-brother-is-   
   extortion.html?__twitter_impression=true&recirc=taboolainternal   
        
      
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