It certainly is odd to see the world's richest man, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, sue someone over relatively small amounts of money. However, it happened just this week as news broke that Bezos is suing his girlfriend's brother, Michael Sanchez, for allegedly hiding his assets to avoid paying Bezos. Sanchez had become indebted to the Amazon CEO last year after he lost a defamation case against Bezos. In the case, Sanchez asserted Bezos lied when accusing the brother of leaking intimate texts between Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez. Michael was ordered to pay Bezos' over $250,000 in legal fees after the case was thrown out.
"The world has been accusing Mr. Bezos of not paying his fair share of taxes, exploiting Amazon employees, and spreading fake conspiracy theories about the future king of Saudi Arabia. You can now add bullying his future brother-in-law to the list," Sanchez's lawyer Michael Warren told TMZ. Bezos claims that after Sanchez lost the defamation case, he transferred ownership of his $2.5 million home to a fake company in an attempt to cover up his wealth.
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"Nevertheless, earlier this week, Mr. Sanchez authorized his team to coordinate with Mr. Bezos’ counsel concerning payment of the judgment. Had Mr. Bezos’ attorneys bothered to reach out to Mr. Sanchez’ counsel before filing a lawsuit against him, they would have known that to be the case," Michael Warren continued.
Bezos is holding his ground against potential future brother-in-law, even if the reward is only a tiny fraction of the CEO's wealth. Bezos should have other things on his mind as he prepares for his July 20th trip into space.