Jeff Bezos' investigator reportedly plans to link the National Enquirer's story about his affair to Saudi Arabia (AMZN)
The National Enquirer published its story about Jeff Bezos' affair as a favor to investors from Saudi Arabia, Bezos' investigator is planning to claim in an upcoming report, Vanity Fair said Monday.
Bezos asked Gavin de Becker, his longtime security chief, to look into the leak of his text messages with Lauren Sanchez and and information about his affair with the former television anchor. In a post on Medium last month, Bezos hinted that there was a link between Saudi Arabia and the Enquirer's coverage of him.
American Media, the Enquirer's parent company, has a "crushing" amount of debt and the Enquirer's circulation has been plummeting, Vanity Fair said. The company raised $460 million to refinance its debt in January. De Becker's apparent theory is that the Enquirer ran the story on Bezos to return a favor to its Saudi backer, according to Vanity Fair.
In his Medium post, Bezos implicitly alleged that Saudi Arabia hates him because he owns the Washington Post, which has published stories critical of the country following the murder of Post journalist and Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi.
Representatives for Bezos and for American Media didn't immediately respond emailed requests for comment about the Vanity Fair report.
