- A defamation lawsuit filed by Michael Sanchez states that Jeff Bezos is Lauren Sanchez's "fiancé."
- "... It was inconceivable that Mr. Sanchez would ruin his relationship with his sister and her current fiancé, the richest man in the world, for financial gain," the suit states.
- The lawsuit claims Bezos falsely told journalists Sanchez was the one who provided Bezos' and Lauren Sanchez's nude photos to the National Enquirer in 2018.
- Bezos has since filed a motion to dismiss Sanchez's suit, calling it "extortion."
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, may be engaged - at least, according to a recent lawsuit filed by her brother.
On Friday, Sanchez's brother, Michael Sanchez, filed a defamation lawsuit that claimed Bezos and his security consultant, Gavin de Becker, falsely told journalists he was the one who had provided Bezos' and Lauren Sanchez's nude photos to the National Enquirer in 2018.
The lawsuit contains several claims about Bezos' and Sanchez's actions over the past two years, including that their relationship began earlier than implied and that Lauren Sanchez played a role in leaking the couple's texts and photos. But in the section of the lawsuit titled "Facts Common to All Claims," Sanchez describes Bezos as his sister's "fiancé."
Here's the full sentence (emphasis ours):
"While Mr. de Becker's initial asserted theory was that Mr. Sanchez had sold out his sister for $200,000, Mr. de Becker soon realized this theory would not hold up because, among other reasons, it was inconceivable that Mr. Sanchez would ruin his relationship with his sister and her current fiancé, the richest man in the world, for financial gain."
Bezos isn't described as Sanchez's fiancé anywhere else in the suit, and Bezos and Sanchez have never confirmed that they're engaged. In December, Page Six published photos of the couple on vacation, noting that Sanchez was wearing a large diamond ring on her right hand (engagement rings are worn on the left hand).
Representatives for Bezos and Sanchez did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. Lawyers for Michael Sanchez also did not immediately respond.
On Monday, Bezos filed a motion accusing Michael Sanchez of extortion via the defamation suit. Bezos and his legal team claim that Sanchez is trying to engage Bezos in an expensive legal battle and is threatening speech protected by the First Amendment, according to The Daily Beast, which reviewed the filing made in California.
Bezos is seeking to dismiss Sanchez's lawsuit under California's anti-SLAPP legislation, which is intended to protect against frivolous lawsuits.
Bezos and Sanchez have publicly been a couple since January 2019 when Page Six and the National Enquirer broke the news. (Hours earlier, Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announced they were getting a divorce after 25 years of marriage.) Since then, both Bezos and Sanchez have finalized their respective divorces and have been spotted vacationing on yachts, attending Wimbledon, partying at the Super Bowl, and visiting sites like the Taj Mahal.
