Investigator Says Saudis Hacked Into Amazon CEO's Phone

The feud between Jeff Bezos and the National Enquirer took another stunning turn over the weekend, according to Bloomberg. A personal investigator for the Amazon CEO accused Saudi Arabia of accessing Bezos’ phone data before the tabloid exposed his extramarital affair.

Gavin de Becker, a security consultant for Bezos, made his accusations in a 2000-plus-word post in the Daily Beast, which the news site labeled as "opinion." He gave no direct evidence to reinforce his allegations, which furthered a suggestion made by Bezos in February that the tabloid’s interest in his personal life could be linked to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Enquirer parent American Media has offered an explanation with far less political intrigue: It learned of Bezos’ affair from his lover’s brother.

De Becker said Bezos is a target of the Saudi government because he owns the Washington Post, which has written extensively about Khashoggi’s murder at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The investigation “concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos’s phone, and gained private information,“ de Becker said in the column. It’s unclear to what degree American Media was aware of the details, he wrote. Bezos has accused the publisher of the National Enquirer of trying to blackmail him.

The investigation “studied the well-documented and close relationship“ between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and AMI Chairman David Pecker, de Becker said. De Becker’s post makes no mention as to whether any sensitive information about Amazon was compromised.