Investigator Gavin de Becker was hired by Jeff Bezos, the founder and owner of Amazon, to investigate how his personal correspondence got into the hands of journalists and was published in the American tabloid The National Enquirer, owned by American Media Inc (AMI).
In an op-ed for Saturday's edition of The Daily Beast, Becker said his client's phone hack was linked to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi critic of the Saudi government whose last job was in The Washington Post, which is in turn owned by Bezos.
“Our investigators and panel of experts concluded with great confidence that the Saudis had access to Jeff’s phone and were able to get hold of his confidential information,” Becker wrote, adding that the expert group had submitted its findings to the US government for further investigation.
“Some Americans will be surprised to learn that the Saudi Arabian government has been trying to put pressure on Bezos since October last year, when The Washington Post began high-profile coverage of the Khashoggi murder,” Becker says. “It is clear that MBS views The Washington Post as its main enemy,” he added, referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was particularly criticized by the deceased journalist. U.S. officials have also previously said that killing Khashoggi would require approval from Prince Mohammed, but Saudi Arabia denies he was involved in the case.
Returning to the story of the likely hack, in January of this year, Jeff Bezos announced that he and Mackenzie Bezos, his wife, with whom they lived together for 25 years, will be divorcing. The news caused a great resonance in the media, as a divorce can lead to the division of the property of one of the richest people on the planet according to Forbes, and even 1% of his fortune will make Mackenzie the richest woman in the United States. Shortly after the announcement of the divorce, just a few hours later, the tabloid The National Enquirer published an intimate correspondence between Bezos and American actress Lores Sanchez, which, of course, infuriated the American multibillionaire.
A month later, Bezos accused The American Media and The National Enquirer of extortion. In a lengthy article on Medium, Bezos said that AMI threatened to release intimate photos of him and Sanchez unless he made a statement that his conflict with American Media over the aforementioned story was not "politically motivated."
In turn, de Becker expresses some doubts that AMI have information about the alleged Saudi hacker. On the other hand, a representative of the latter called de Becker's statements "false and unfounded", adding that Michael Sanchez - Lauren's brother - was "the only source of information for the company about Bezos' new relationship" and "no other party took part in this."
The Saudi embassy in Washington has yet to comment on the new accusation, though the Saudi foreign minister said in February that their government had "absolutely nothing to do" with the publication of National. AMI, on the other hand, has signaled that it will scrutinize Bezos's Medium article before making further statements, but the company has previously announced that it was acting completely legally in publishing Bezos' personal life.
Note that CNET tried to contact Michael Sanchez for comment on this story, but at the moment there is no new information as to whether they succeeded, and we just have to follow the development of the high-profile scandal.
Source: 3dnews.ru