Fox News
Michael Sanchez.
- Michael Sanchez was on Fox News on Sunday in his first TV interview since he was accused of leaking his sister Lauren Sanchez's affair with Jeff Bezos to the National Inquirer.
- Michael Sanchez claimed that Bezos came to him for help managing the press because he didn't think the Amazon press team was capable of handling the story.
- But Sanchez has been identified as the source of the leak by multiple outlets and by Bezos' private investigator, who said the National Inquirer's publisher "practically pinned a 'kick me' sign" on his back.
- Sanchez said: "I will cooperate with any of the investigations into the blackmail allegations against AMI and the hacking allegations against the Saudis."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Michael Sanchez, brother of Lauren Sanchez and a key player in the Jeff Bezos sex text saga, has given his first TV interview about his involvement in the leaking of Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's affair.
In an interview with Fox News, Sanchez described himself as a close confidante of Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in the run-up to the National Enquirer publishing the couple's intimate texts in January.
Sanchez, a Hollywood agent, told Fox that Bezos even approached him for help handling the press around the relationship, which coincided with Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, filing for divorce.
"He said that he didn't think that the Amazon PR team was equipped to handle this kind of story," Sanchez said of Bezos, the richest man in the world. Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Sanchez added that after Bezos and Lauren Sanchez appeared together at a Blue Origin launch, before their relationship was public, "multiple tabloids" were onto the story.
"Let's cut to the chase: everything that I did was to protect Jeff and Lauren's love affair. And anyone who thinks money was the motive is an idiot," he said.
Adrian Dennis/Reuters
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez attend the men's Wimbledon finals.
But despite efforts to portray a close relationship with his sister and Bezos, Sanchez has been repeatedly accused of being the source of the National Enquirer's story on the leaked texts. CNN, The Daily Beast, and Associated Press all linked him with the leak.
What's more, Bezos' private investigator and head of security Gavin de Becker wrote an article for The Daily Beast in which he said the National Enquirer's publisher American Media Inc (AMI) "practically pinned a 'kick me' sign on Michael Sanchez." De Becker also described Sanchez as "now-estranged" from his sister.
In email and phone exchanges with Business Insider at the beginning of this year, Sanchez repeatedly denied having shared "penis photos" with AMI, but dodged answering questions about whether he'd leaked the written messages that formed part of the National Enquirer story.
Fox News reported on Sunday that Bezos' allegation he was blackmailed by AMI with naked selfies is being investigated by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which has convened a grand jury that is taking testimony on the incident. Sanchez said he would cooperate with investigators.
"I will cooperate with any of the investigations into the blackmail allegations against AMI and the hacking allegations against the Saudis. And one point that I want to make is that all of the investigations thus far have cleared me of any involvement in the below the belt selfies, which are the centerpiece of all of the investigations," he said.