--- title: Who Is Michael Sanchez? The Brother of Jeff Bezos' Girlfriend Faces Scrutiny description: The brother of a woman who had an affair with Amazon head Jeff Bezos denied being the source of texts published by the National Enquirer. canonical: https://time.com/5526804/michael-sanchez-jeff-bezos-girlfriend-brother/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-11T17:45:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:22:23.589Z article:section: Politics og:title: Who Is Michael Sanchez? The Brother of Jeff Bezos' Girlfriend Faces Scrutiny og:description: His connections to Donald Trump could add to the controversy og:url: https://time.com/5526804/michael-sanchez-jeff-bezos-girlfriend-brother/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4ba603339079959/698944f5b21a9c5155500140/jeff-bezos-lauren-sanchez-national-enquirer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Jeff Bezos and Matt Damon's "Manchester By The Sea" Holiday Party og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Who Is Michael Sanchez? The Brother of Jeff Bezos' Girlfriend Faces Scrutiny twitter:description: His connections to Donald Trump could add to the controversy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4ba603339079959/698944f5b21a9c5155500140/jeff-bezos-lauren-sanchez-national-enquirer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Who Is Michael Sanchez? The Brother of Jeff Bezos' Girlfriend Faces Scrutiny > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9b18e03b-061f-48ce-943c-da74a7a5a6d4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer of 'Extortion' Over Explicit Personal Photos [Watch (HLS stream): Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer of 'Extortion' Over Explicit Personal Photos](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Bw9jQWMk.m3u8) (1:13)  _Published 2019-02-08. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says the National Enquirer is threatening to publish revealing photographs of him unless his private investigators back off the tabloid._ by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Feb 11, 2019 5:45 PM UTC Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says the National Enquirer is threatening to publish revealing photographs of him unless his private investigators back off the tabloid. by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Feb 11, 2019 5:45 PM UTC The brother of a woman who had an affair with Amazon head Jeff Bezos has denied being the source of personal texts published by the _National Enquirer_, but a new report again raised his name. Citing unnamed sources within AMI, the tabloid’s parent company, [a story in The Daily Beast late Sunday](https://www.thedailybeast.com/mistress-lauren-sanchezs-brother-leaked-bezos-racy-texts-to-enquirer-sources-say-7?ref=home) said that Michael Sanchez may have given the texts to the _Enquirer_. When his name was first floated as a possibility in January, Sanchez [told the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/was-tabloid-expose-of-bezos-affair-just-juicy-gossip-or-a-political-hit-job/2019/02/05/03d2f716-2633-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.823bc87f1e7b), which is owned by Bezos, that he was not the source and called claims about him “lies, half-truths, sloppy tabloid leaks, \[and\] crazy conspiracy theories.” The racy texts between Bezos and Sanchez’s sister, former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, were published in January, after Bezos announced that he and his wife MacKenzie were divorcing. Bezos then launched an investigation into how his private messages were leaked, and last week accused the publisher of the _National Enquirer_ of [trying to blackmail him](http://time.com/5525564/federal-prosecutors-national-enquirer-jeff-bezos/) by threatening to publish personal photos. Here’s a closer look at Michael Sanchez’s role in all of this. ## **Who is Michael Sanchez?** In addition to being the brother of Bezos’ girlfriend, Sanchez is a talent manager at Axis Management in California. He previously worked at MTV, according to [Heavy](https://heavy.com/news/2019/01/lauren-sanchez-brother-michael-sanchez/), and has [been married](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hitched-hatched-hired-261480) to his husband, Casey Ashby, since 2011. In the past, he often posted photos with his sister on social media. But his name started circulating as the scandal around she and Bezos expanded. > [](https://twitter.com/mikey2go/status/1009950377326755840) In late January, [The Daily Beast reported](https://www.thedailybeast.com/bezos-investigators-question-the-brother-of-his-mistress-lauren-sanchez-in-national-enquirer-leak-probe?ref=scroll) that Gavin de Becker, Bezos’s security consultant leading his investigation into the leak, was interviewing Sanchez. ## **What are Michael Sanchez’s political connections?** Sanchez has been outspoken about his support for Trump on his personal social media accounts and in his own writing. He frequently criticizes CNN and other news outlets on Twitter and echoes many of Trump’s positions, including talking about “fake news” and calling the Mueller investigation “McCarthyism” in December. > [](https://twitter.com/mikey2go/status/1069762550496026624) He also appeared to write a letter to the editor in the [Los Angeles _Times_](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-0412-tuesday-west-hollywood-donald-trump-20160412-story.html), where he called himself “a gay man, a Hispanic, a West Hollywood homeowner and strong supporter of Trump.” But he also has connections with several Trump associates, including Roger Stone, Carter Page and Scottie Nell Hughes. Stone and Sanchez were in communication about the _National Enquirer_ story after it ran, according to [The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/bezos-investigators-question-the-brother-of-his-mistress-lauren-sanchez-in-national-enquirer-leak-probe?ref=scroll), and when asked about Sanchez, Stone told The Daily Beast that he is a “very good guy.” Page, who got involved in the Russia investigation after serving as an early foreign policy adviser to Trump, also told The Daily Beast that he considered Sanchez a “friend” and that his agency represented him in the past. Sanchez posted a photo with Page and Hughes at Politicon last October. > [](https://twitter.com/mikey2go/status/1054004689002319872) ## **Why is Michael Sanchez under scrutiny?** While Bezos’s investigator has not accused Sanchez of anything, The Daily Beast says it has “multiple sources inside AMI” that say Sanchez provided the text messages between his sister and Bezos. The website also previously reported that Bezos’ team believes the leaker had [political motivations](https://www.thedailybeast.com/bezos-launches-investigation-into-leaked-texts-with-lauren-sanchez-that-killed-his-marriage) for exposing the messages. A lawyer for the company also [told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sunday-week-attorney-elkan-abramowitz-rep-john-yarmuth/story?id=60950522) on Sunday that the source of the messages was someone close to the couple. “The story was given to the _National Enquirer_ by a reliable source that had given information to the _National Enquirer_ for seven years prior to this story. It was a source that was well known to both Mr. Bezos and Ms. Sanchez,” attorney Elkan Abramowitz said on Sunday. ## Transcript [00:51] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5526804/michael-sanchez-jeff-bezos-girlfriend-brother/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5526804/michael-sanchez-jeff-bezos-girlfriend-brother/"},"headline":"Who Is Michael Sanchez? 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