Jeff Bezos’ cell phone was hacked in 2018 after he received a malicious WhatsApp message from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, months before the National Enquirer exposed his affair, it has been claimed.

The Amazon billionaire received a video file containing malicious code from Mohammed Bin Salman’s personal phone number, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

According to forensic examination of the phone afterwards, the message was sent on May 1, 2018. Within hours, a large amount of data from Bezos’ phone was extracted.  There is no detail of what kind of data was taken.

Eight months later, the National Enquirer exposed Bezos’ affair with Lauren Sanchez, and Bezos accused the tabloid of ‘extortion and blackmail’ for threatening to publish nude photos of himself and Sanchez that the tabloid had ‘obtained’.

In a blog post at the time, Bezos pointed to the Enquirer’s alleged financial ties to Saudi Arabia, and hinted that the kingdom was furious with him for coverage in the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, about columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s death at the hands of a Saudi hit squad.

Read more: daily mail