Jeff Bezos is suing Michael Sanchez, the brother of his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, after accusing Michael Sanchez of hiding money that could be used to pay the Amazon CEO’s legal fees after losing a defamation lawsuit.

Michael Sanchez initially sued Bezos last year for tarnishing his name after the multi-billionaire accused him of leaking private text messages to the press and exposing Bezos’ affair with Lauren Sanchez.

Sanchez went on to claim that comments made by Bezos suggesting he also shared photographs of Bezos’ privates with the media contributed to damaging his image.

A judge eventually threw out the case and ordered Sanchez to pay for Bezos’ legal fees, totaling $254,404. However, Sanchez has yet to cover the bill.

Bezos suspects Sanchez is doing things to hide his money such as transferring the ownership of his $2.5 million West Hollywood home to a shell company.

Sanchez’s attorney, Tom Warren, previously told the Seattle Times that Bezos was using the lawsuit to intimidate his client.

“Earlier this week, Mr. Sanchez authorized his team to coordinate with Mr. Bezos’ counsel concerning payment of the judgment,” Warren said in a statement.

“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.”

Warren later told TMZ that “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 is in the process of appealing the defamation suit and is hoping a judge will sanction Bezos “for pursuing frivolous motions for sanctions and to dismiss.”

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to fly into space in July on a rocket built by his company Blue Origin
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to fly into space in July on a rocket built by his company Blue Origin GETTY IMAGES / MARK WILSON
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