• e-mail

Lauren Sanchez's brother Michael was the person who leaked the sexts between her and Jeff Bezos to the National Enquirer, it has been revealed. 

Multiple sources at AMI, the magazine's parent company, confirmed to Daily Beast that Michael was the one who helped blow the lid off the couple's affair. 

AMI previously refused to reveal who leaked the texts, but on Sunday Elkan Abramowitz, a lawyer for the company, hinted that Sanchez was behind it. 

'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,' he said on ABC's This Week. 

Lauren Sanchez's brother Michael was the person who leaked the texts between her and Jeff Bezos to the National Enquirer, it has been revealed

'It was a source that was well known to both Mr Bezos and Ms Sanchez,' he added, although he refused to give the source's name. 

AMI refused to comment to the DailyMail.com regarding Daily Beast's revelations.  

Confirmation of Michael's involvement comes as it was confirmed that Bezos has closed his investigation into the leaker of the texts.  

'Our investigation into who initially provided texts to the National Enquirer, and why it was done - that investigation is now complete,' Gavin de Becker, the security consultant Bezos hired to lead the investigation, told the Daily Beast. 

'We have turned our conclusions over to our attorneys for referral to law enforcement. Our investigation into what the National Enquirer and [publisher] AMI did after they received the initial texts - that investigation is ongoing.' 

De Becker would not disclose any findings of his investigation, including whether he had individually confirmed that Sanchez was the source of the leaked texts. 

The security consultant previously made no secret about the fact that he and Bezos suspected Sanchez's brother could be involved with the leak.    

Multiple sources at AMI, the magazine's parent company, confirmed to Daily Beast that Michael was the one who helped blow the lid off the couple's affair. He is pictured here with Lauren and their mother at Amazon headquarters in June  

Michael has said he knew about Lauren and Bezos' affair since April of last year. The couple are pictured here in November  

'I would be blind if I didn't register the fact that Michael Sanchez is an associate of people like Roger Stone, Carter Page and Scottie Nell Hughes,' he told the Washington Post.

'Learning that was a major surprise in our investigation. Naturally, that raised questions about whether [Enquirer publisher and Trump friend] David Pecker, the National Enquirer and others intended to do a hit piece on The Washington Post and Jeff Bezos.'

Michael revealed he knew about his sister's affair since April but denied the allegations, claiming the texts got to the Enquirer via 'spying by foreign governments, rival tech companies or 'deep state' actors within the US government'. 

He even claimed to have discussed with de Becker a potential theory that Trump enlisted the help of British intelligence or the Israeli Mossad to get the texts. 

When asked if there was any Saudi involvement in the leaking of Bezos' texts on Friday, the Saudi Minister for Foreign Affairs Adel Jubeir said 'I doubt it,' and then a short while later said 'no.' 

Meanwhile, Abramowitz continued to deny that the tabloid committed extortion or blackmail by threatening to publish the Amazon CEO's explicit photos. 

Bezos' investigation team previously said they suspected Michael could have been the one who leaked the couple's texts to the tabloid 

Elkan Abramowitz, who represents American Media Inc. chief executive David Pecker, said the on Sunday that the person who leaked the text messages between Jeff Bezos and his mistress Lauren Sanchez is 'well known' to both of them

The denial comes after Bezos published an extraordinary Medium blog post revealing that AMI had threatened to expose his revealing photos if he didn't have his private investigators back off. 

Bezos did not say the tabloid was seeking money - instead, he said, the Enquirer wanted him to make a public statement that the tabloid's coverage was not politically motivated. 

AMI's attorney defended the tabloid's practice on Sunday, saying it was a 'negotiation'. 

And Abramowitz refuted allegations the story was politically motivated because of Pecker's close friendship with Trump, who has repeatedly railed against Bezos. 

 'It absolutely is not extortion and not blackmail,' he said. 

'Bezos didn't want another story written about him or those pictures published, AMI did not want to have the libel against them that this was inspired by the White House, inspired by Saudi Arabia or inspired by The Washington Post. 

'It had nothing to do with it. It was a usual story that National Enquirer gets from reliable sources.'

Bezos claimed on Thursday that AMI later threatened to expose his revealing photos if he didn't have his private investigators back off. The Amazon boss has been investigating how the tabloid obtained his private exchanges with his mistress

Elkan Abramowitz  refused to answer when asked if the leaker was Lauren Sanchez's brother Michael. Lauren is pictured above at Santa Monica Airport

When asked if it was a 'take down' to please Trump, Abramowitz replied: 'Any investigator knew it was not the White House.' 

Bezos' accusations from earlier in the week added another twist to the high-profile clash between the world's richest man and the leader of America's best-known tabloid. 

His investigators have suggested the Enquirer's coverage of his affair - which included the release of risque texts - was driven by dirty politics. 

'Of course I don't want personal photos published, but I also won't participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption,' Bezos wrote of AMI, in explaining his decision to go public. 

'I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out.' 

AMI has admitted in the past that it engaged in what's known as 'catch-and-kill' practices to help Trump become president. Trump has been highly critical of Bezos and the Post's coverage of the White House. 

The Bezos affair became public when the Enquirer published a January 9 story about his relationship with Sanchez, a former TV anchor who is also married. Bezos then hired a team of private investigators to find out how the tabloid got the texts and photos the two exchanged.

Several days ago, someone at AMI told Bezos' team that the company's CEO David Pecker was 'apoplectic' about the investigation, Bezos said. AMI later approached Bezos' representatives with an offer.

American Media has defended their dealings with billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a statement, saying the company 'acted lawfully' (AMI owner David Pecker on left, Chief Content Creator Dylan Howard on right)

The National Enquirer's cover story on Bezos' divorce and relationship with Sanchez

'They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn't stop our investigation,' Bezos wrote.

Bezos wrote that this week, the tabloid's editor, Dylan Howard, emailed an attorney for Bezos' longtime security consultant to describe photos the Enquirer 'obtained during our newsgathering.' The photos include a 'below the belt selfie' of Bezos, photos of him in tight boxer-briefs and wearing only a towel, and several revealing photos of Sanchez, according to the emails Bezos released.

According to the emails, an attorney for AMI offered a formal deal Wednesday: The tabloid wouldn't post the photos if Bezos and his investigators would release a public statement 'affirming that they have no knowledge or basis' to suggest the Enquirer's coverage was 'politically motivated or influenced by political forces.'

Bezos said he decided to publish the emails sent to his team 'rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail,' despite the 'personal cost and embarrassment they threaten.'

In its initial story, the Enquirer said reporters followed Bezos and Sanchez 'across five states and 40,000 miles' and 'tailed them in private jets, swanky limos, helicopter rides, romantic hikes, five-star hotel hideaways, intimate dinner dates and 'quality time' in hidden love nests.'

It reported that Bezos sent 'sleazy text messages and gushing love notes' to Sanchez, months before Bezos announced he was splitting up with his wife, MacKenzie.