- Also in attendance at the party were Kobe Bryant, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, Vice co-founder Shane Smith, and former Trump aide Dina Powell, among others.
- A UN report published Wednesday alleges that Bezos was hacked by Mohammed months after they exchanged phone numbers. A 2018 Vanity Fair story places Bezos and Mohammed at the party that night.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Jeff Bezos exchanged phone numbers at an April 2018 party in Hollywood, surrounded by other celebrities and CEOs.
FILE PHOTO: Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin and CEO of Amazon, speaks about the future plans of Blue Origin during an address to attendees at Access Intelligence's SATELLITE 2017 conference in Washington, U.S., March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
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Before Jeff Bezos' personal phone was allegedly hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the two men first exchanged numbers at a Hollywood party surrounded by celebrities, politicos, and CEOs.
According to the UN report that accuses Mohammed of carrying out the hack via WhatsApp, Bezos and Mohammed exchanged numbers on April 4, 2018 at a dinner attended by big names. A Vanity Fair story published that week places Bezos and Mohammed at a Hollywood dinner hosted by producer Brian Grazer and his wife, Veronica.
Brian and Veronica Grazer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The couple, along with William Morris Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, was reportedly finalizing a deal with Mohammed for a $400 million stake WME.
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Also present at the party were NBA star and tech investor Kobe Bryant, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, former Trump aide Dina Powell, Vice cofounder Shane Smith. Business Insider reached out to representatives for those present, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to the UN-commissioned report, published in full by VICE , Bezos and Mohammed exchanged a few messages beginning on April 4.
bezos MBS texts
FTI Consulting
On May 1, 2018, Bezos reportedly received a video file from Mohammed's account, which investigators believe may have contained malware that began extracting private information from Bezos' phone. Shortly after the video file was sent to Bezos on WhatsApp, his phone began transmitting a huge amount of data to an external server, according to the report.
The Saudi government has denied the UN report, while the experts who authored the report have called for "an immediate investigation by US and other relevant authorities."
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See Also:
- This is a rare photo of the smartphone-hacking device sold by the NSO Group, the billion-dollar Israeli spyware company accused of helping hack Jeff Bezos
- The UN just called for an 'immediate investigation' into the crown prince of Saudi Arabia over reports suggesting he hacked Jeff Bezos' phone
- Jeff Bezos' phone was reportedly hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018