A California judge tosses out the defamation lawsuit against Jeff Bezos
- On Thursday, a judge in California tossed out the defamation lawsuit against Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
- The lawsuit, which was filed by Bezos' girlfriend's brother, Michael Sanchez, claimed Bezos falsely accused Sanchez of leaking nude photographs of Bezos to the National Enquirer.
- The judge said that the case was based on hearsay and lacked admissible evidence, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- This marks the beginning of an end to the months-long legal battle, which started back in February.
On Thursday, a judge in California dismissed the defamation suit against Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
The lawsuit was filed by Michael Sanchez —the brother of Bezos' girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez — and claimed Bezos falsely accused Sanchez of leaking nude photographs of Bezos to the National Enquirer.
The lawsuit, which has become a months-long legal battle, was thrown out on Thursday when Judge John P. Doyle, of Los Angeles County Superior Court, said the case was based on hearsay and lacked admissible evidence, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The judge also threw out the claim Sanchez filed for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
"We respectfully disagree with the trial court's ruling and look forward to vindicating Mr. Sanchez's claims on appeal," Tom Warren, a lawyer for Mr. Sanchez, told The Wall Street Journal.
Sanchez filed the lawsuit back in February
In January 2019, the Enquirer published detailed messages and photographs which revealed Bezos was in a relationship with Lauren Sanchez. At the time, both Lauren and Bezos were in separate marriages.
Bezos responded to the scandal in a blog post, where he accused American Media Inc., the tabloid's then-publisher, and its then-CEO, David Pecker, of trying to blackmail him.
Shortly following the story and blog post, multiple media outlets reported that Michael Sanchez had been the source.
In February, Sanchez filed a lawsuit accusing Bezos and his head of security, Gavin de Becker, for defamation. Sanchez said that Bezos had inaccurately told media outlets that Sanchez had leaked the nude photographs to the National Enquirer.
In court filings, Bezos denied accusing Sanchez of leaking nude photos.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Sanchez's lawyer, Tom Warren, plans to appeal the case.
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