Jeff Bezos’s intimate text messages were published by the National Enquirer after being leaked to the tabloid by his girlfriend’s brother, a Donald Trump supporter with links to the president’s close associates, according to US media reports.
Multiple news outlets have reported that Michael Sanchez supplied information about his sister Lauren Sanchez’s relationship with the Amazon founder.
The stories apparently corroborate the findings of private investigators working for Mr Bezos, who has claimed evidence points to a politically motivated leak.
Mr Trump has been highly critical of Mr Bezos over his ownership of The Washington Post and the newspaper’s coverage of his White House tenure.
Mr Sanchez is vocal supporter of the president and an acquaintance of Mr Trump’s allies Roger Stone and Carter Page.
He has denied leaking the messages to the pro-Trump National Enquirer.
But CNN reported on Thursday that two unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter had confirmed that he tipped off the magazine about his sister’s relationship.
The Daily Beast, citing sources at the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc. (AMI), also reported that Mr Sanchez was the tabloid’s source.
AMI has publicly refused to say who supplied the texts, but a company lawyer on Sunday strongly hinted that Mr Sanchez had leaked them.
“The story was given to the National Enquirer by a reliable source that had given information to the National Enquirer for seven years prior to this story,” Elkan Abramowitz told ABC News. “It was a source that was well known to both Mr Bezos and Ms Sanchez.”
The Daily Beast said it had seen documents that showed Mr Sanchez believed the magazine was pursuing its story about Mr Bezos with “President Trump's knowledge and appreciation”. He reportedly also believed the National Enquirer to have the backing of Republican operatives “who THINK Jeff gets up every morning and has a WaPo meeting to plot its next diabolical attack on President Trump”.
It is unclear how Mr Sanchez is alleged to have got hold of the texts, but he has not been accused of hacking.
Mr Bezos, the world’s richest man, accused the National Enquirer of “extortion and blackmail” after the tabloid threatened to publish sexual messages including a "below-the-belt selfie" sent by Mr Bezos to Ms Sanchez, a former Fox News anchor.
He published emails in which it is alleged that AMI - owned by Trump ally David Pecker – demanded he declare its reporting of his private life was not politically motivated.
In a post on Medium, Mr Bezos suggested Mr Pecker was angry he had launched a private investigation into how the magazine obtained the texts.
The Amazon founder also referenced media reports about alleged links between AMI and Saudi Arabia, and alluded to the kingdom’s displeasure at the Washington Post’s coverage of the murder of its columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister later said the kingdom had "nothing to do with" the row.
