Lauren Sanchez’s ex-husband is claimed to be the source who leaked her affair with billionaire Jeff Bezos, according to court documents.
Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell was still married to TV host Sanchez when the National Enquirer broke the news two years ago that she and Amazon boss Bezos were having an affair.
At the time, the tabloid and its parent company AMI claimed Sanchez’s brother Michael Sanchez was the one who leaked private texts and racy photos of the affair, ending Bezos’s 25-year marriage to wife MacKenzie Scott.
But now the National Enquirer reporter who reported on the story claims in court documents that it was Sanchez’s jilted husband Whitesell who discovered the affair and turned to the media because he wanted out of the marriage, The Daily Beast reports.
Lauren Sanchez’s ex-husband Patrick Whitesell reportedly outed her affair with billionaire Jeff Bezos to tabloid the National Enquirer
Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell was still married to TV host Sanchez when The National Enquirer covered the news two years ago that she and Amazon boss Bezos were having an affair
The journalist who covered the story in 2019 is Nikolaos Tzima Hatziefstathiou, a reporter with a checkered past of his own.
The reporter who covered the story Nikolaos Tzima Hatziefstathiou claims that Whitesell first brought the affair to the tabloid’s attention
Hatziefstathiou claims that Whitesell first brought the affair to the tabloid’s attention and was his main source for the story.
He makes these claims in a defamation lawsuit brought by Michael Sanchez against AMI.
Michael claims that the tabloid lied when it claimed he was their main source in outing the affair.
The filing obtained by The Daily Beast claims, ‘Mr. Whitesell discovered the Affair, and by serving as AMA’s (then the name of the National Enquirer’s parent company) secret, undisclosed source, literally turned the divorce into a ”get out of divorce free” card via a pre-divorce, in which he appears blameless and scandal-free, just months before WME’s planned initial public offering.’
Whitesell is a top Hollywood agent who reps A-listers Matt Damon, Gal Gadot, Matt Damon, Keanu Reeves, Ben Affleck and more at William Morris Endeavors. He and Sanchez were married for 13 years before the affair ended their marriage.
A spokesman for Whitesell said in a statement to the Daily Beast: ‘This is categorically untrue, and unfortunately not the first time we have seen this desperate attempt from Michael Sanchez to perpetuate this odd and tiresome circus.
‘The fact that Patrick has been implicated in this bizarre series of lawsuits and incriminations is a direct result of the character of those involved and is completely disconnected from reality. Any suggestion to the contrary is malicious and libelous.’
The tabloid and its parent company AMI claimed Sanchez’s brother Michael Sanchez was the one who leaked private texts and racy photos of the affair. The siblings are pictured together
Whitesell is a top Hollywood agent who reps A-listers Matt Damon, Gal Gadot, Matt Damon, Keanu Reeves, Ben Affleck and more at William Morris Endeavors. He and Sanchez were married for 13 years before the affair ended their marriage and are pictured with Bezos in 2016
While Hatziefstathion claims in the filing that he has ‘ten terabytes’ of data filled with documents about AMI’s coverage of the affair, none were included in the filing beyond his statement.
Hatziefstathiou has a questionable past of his own after being charged in 2019 with tampering with public records and forgery, among other charges.
Prosecutors accused him of posing as a Good Morning America producer and a New York Times reporter to obtain government documents.
He also reportedly sent dozens of prostitutes to his neighbor’s home and then reported a disturbance to the police.
The question of who leaked the affair has been an ongoing international saga, with some reports pointing to the Saudi Royal Family.
Bezos himself has long pushed the suggestion that Saudi Arabia was involved as the Enquirer’s source. Bezos’ investigators, endorsed by U.N. officials, indicated that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia had sent malicious code in a WhatsApp message that compromised the cell phone of Bezos, the CEO of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post.
But last year federal prosecutors in Manhattan revealed they had evidence Sanchez provided intimate text messages to her sibling Michael, who sold them to the National Enquirer.
Prosecutors obtained a May 10, 2018 text message sent from the phone of Sanchez to her brother Michael containing her intimates texts with Bezos. The Wall Street Journal reviewed the text messages as well as a $200,000 payment Michael received from the Enquirer under an October 2018 contract.
Prosecutors obtained the documents in the ongoing investigation into Bezos’ allegation that the Enquirer tried to extort him by threatening to publish his nude pictures, as well as whether his phone was hacked.
Whitesell has meanwhile moved on from Sanchez with actress Pia Miller – pictured together
Miller announced her engagement to Whitesell in November and the 37-year-old Australian actress has now convinced fans she’s secretly married the multimillionaire agent, 56
Whitesell has meanwhile moved on from Sanchez with actress Pia Miller.
Miller announced her engagement to Whitesell in November and the 37-year-old Australian actress has now convinced fans she’s secretly married the multimillionaire agent, 56.
She posted a picture on Instagram on Wednesday in which Patrick appeared to be wearing a wedding ring.
Last month Bezos was awarded a small portion of the $1.7 million in legal fees he wanted from Michael and got $218,385.
A judge ruled that the number of hours billed and the use of eight lawyers used was ‘not reasonable.’
In November Judge John P. Doyle of the Los Angeles County Superior Court dismissed the case, saying Sanchez’s allegations were relying heavily on hearsay.
Bezos said in a filing that Michael betrayed his sister, and him, by selling their private communications to the tabloid for $200,000.
Bezos accused him of then doubling down by filing a lawsuit, intended to harass Bezos into a settlement ‘by threatening discovery and public disclosure of private matters.’
