Jeff Bezos' investigator is confident Saudi Arabia hacked Bezos' phone before National Enqurirer affair exposé

Gavin de Becker, the veteran security consultant leading Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' investigation into how National Enquirer obtained personal text messages between him and girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, says his office "quickly identified" Sanchez's "now-estranged brother" Michael as "the person whom the Enquirer had paid as a source." But "what was unusual, very unusual," about the case is "how hard" the Enquirer and its publisher, American Media Inc., "worked to publicly reveal their source's identity," de Becker wrote at The Daily Beast. "First through strong hints they gave to me, and later through direct statements, AMI practically pinned a 'kick me' sign on Michael Sanchez."

Sanchez's involvement is as superfluous to the investigation as "the name of a low-level Watergate burglar," de Becker said. Bezos was interested in AMI's "extortion and blackmail," as he explained in a Medium post, and the investigation, now complete and handed of to federal officials, points to Saudi Arabia, de Becker wrote. "Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone, and gained private information. As of today, it is unclear to what degree, if any, AMI was aware of the details."

AMI told CNN on Sunday that despite de Becker's "false and unsubstantiated claims," Michael Sanchez was "the single source" who "tipped the National Enquirer off to the affair" and "provided all of the materials for our investigation. ... There was no involvement by any other third party whatsoever." In The Daily Beast, de Becker points to reports in The Wall Street Journal and Page Six that the Enquirer had already been investigating the Bezos-Sanchez affair and had seen text exchanges before talking with Michael Sanchez. He also noted AMI's odd actions and his own team's broad array of investigative interviews and research. You can read more about de Becker's allegations and their implications at The Daily Beast.

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