Download the all-new Republic app:

Published 22:53 IST, March 31st 2019

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos accuses the Saudi government for accessing private information on his phone

Jeff Bezos, Amazon chief executive, said on Saturday that the Saudi government had access to his phone and gained private information from it.

Reported by: Urvee Koyari
Follow: Google News Icon
  • share
null | Image: self
Advertisement

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said on Saturday that the Saudi government had access to his phone and gained private information from it.

A longtime security consultant, Gavin De Becker concluded his investigation into the publication in January of leaked text messages between Bezos and a former television anchor Lauren Sanchez, who the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper said Bezos was dating.

Advertisement

Reporting the chief’s extramarital affair with Sanchez,  his intimate text messages and photos made their way into the hands of the Enquirer, leading to his divorce.

Bezos accused the owner of the newspaper, last month, of trying to blackmail him over the threat of publishing his intimate photos which were sent by him to the former television actress unless he made a statement saying that the tabloid’s reporting on him was not politically motivated.

Advertisement

A representative of AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, said that the company did not immediately heed into Bezos request to the comment but had acted lawfully in the reporting of his story.

Taking it to Twitter, the chief executive posted a document on his handle writing about the developments with the National Enquirer and its parent company, AMI.

Advertisement

Here’s what his tweet read:

The investigations carried out by Bezos security consultant pointed out Saudi involvement in his blackmail scandal.

"Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone, and gained private information," De Becker wrote. "As of today, it is unclear to what degree, if any, AMI was aware of the details."

Advertisement

Not specified by De Becker as to which part of the Saudi government he was blaming for the hack, he, however, gave a few details about the investigation leading to the conclusion which accounted the kingdom being responsible in the act.

A spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment. In February, the kingdom's minister of state for foreign affairs said Saudi Arabia had "absolutely nothing to do" with the National Enquirer's reporting on the affair.

Bezos security consultant informed that he turned over the findings of his investigation to US federal officials, without further elaborating any details.

15:00 IST, March 31st 2019