Customs officers have been seen aboard Jeff Bezos’ luxury yacht in photographs shot in St Barts on New Year’s Eve.
Exclusive DailyMail.com pictures show several officials appearing to investigate aboard the $500 million Koru, which is believed to be the world’s largest sailing yacht.
At least two men and two women inspected the Amazon founder’s 417-foot boat for more than three hours by roaming the decks and speaking with occupants including Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez.
Sanchez’s sunbathing was interrupted by a woman who appeared to be one of the officials with a walkie-talkie in her back pocket.
The former new anchor can be seen calmly looking up at the woman who spoke while pointing her finger and motioning upwards.
A source said the inspection was ‘routine’. It’s not known the purpose of the search or what the officials were looking for.
Before the officials crashed the party, Sanchez, 55, was seen soaking up the winter sunshine aboard the boat with her friends, including her ex, former NFL star Tony Gonzalez.
Sanchez stunned in a wide-brimmed sunhat with large aviators and a gold-patterned bikini. She relaxed on sun loungers and chatted with Gonzalez and friends on deck.
Customs officers are pictured aboard Jeff Bezos’ Koru yacht for what a source said was a routine inspection
The exclusive DailyMail.com pictures show several officials appearing to investigate aboard the $500 million Koru, which is believed to be the world’s largest sailing yacht
At least two men and two women inspected the Amazon founder’s 417-foot boat for more than three hours by roaming the decks and speaking with occupants including Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez (pictured)
At least two men and two women inspected the Amazon founder’s 417-foot boat for more than three hours. Sanchez’s sunbathing was interrupted by a woman who appeared to be one of the officials with a walkie-talkie in her back pocket.
iving from the lower deck into the ocean with pals.
It comes ahead of Sanchez tying the knot with her billionaire beau after they got engaged on board the same mega-yacht in May 2023.
Though there were reports that the two were set to marry in Aspen the weekend after Christmas, Bezos denied the claims.
Bezos and Sanchez have kept extraordinary secrecy around their future wedding day, though Sanchez let slip on the Today Show last month that she had bought her wedding dress.
Sanchez told Vogue in November last year that, at that point, she hadn’t started planning.
‘We’re still thinking about the wedding,’ she told the magazine. ‘Is it going to be big? Is it going to be overseas? We don’t know yet.’
When asked if he would get involved in the plans, Bezos reportedly laughed and said: ‘Oh, God, no. Do I look that dumb?’
Further details on the ‘routine’ search have not yet been shared
Sanchez stunned in a wide-brimmed sunhat with large aviators and a gold-patterned bikini. She relaxed on sun loungers and chatted with Gonzalez and friends on deck
Sanchez strolled around on deck and chatted with Gonzalez and friends in the sunshine
Today Show hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie took their chance when Sanchez sat for an interview on November 20 this year, cheekily asking about her wedding plans.
‘So, you asked?’ said Sanchez, looking a little exasperated.
She said she was ‘very excited about it,’ adding she was ‘thinking about the dress’.
‘I have to say, I do have a Pinterest, I’m just like every other bride, so I do have a Pinterest board,’ the billionaire’s fiancée admitted.
Bezos and Sanchez have been publicly dating since January 2019.
Three sources previously told DailyMail.com they had been made aware of the Bezos wedding taking place on December 28.
However, after the Daily Mail published the story, Bezos’s team denied the wedding was going ahead next weekend.
The billionaire took to X to slam the wedding claims as ‘completely false’.
‘This whole thing is completely false – none of this is happening,’ he wrote. ‘The old adage “don’t believe everything you read” is even more true today than it ever has been.’
‘Now lies can get ALL the way around the world before the truth can get its pants on. So be careful out there folks and don’t be gullible,’ Bezos said.
Bezos and Sánchez have kept extraordinary secrecy around the big day ever since he proposed aboard his $500 million superyacht in May 2023.
It comes ahead of Sanchez tying the knot with her billionaire beau after they got engaged on board the same mega-yacht in May 2023. (Pictured: Sanchez on the yacht on NYE)
But one well-connected member of the Aspen community said that the Amazon founder arrived with his entourage on a private jet into the city’s airport on Saturday.
The rumor in town was that Bezos would be holding the ceremony at Kevin Costner’s 160-acre Dunbar Ranch.
Another well-placed source said they had been told a wild cost estimate for the extravaganza of $600 million.
Sánchez let slip on the Today Show last month that she had bought her wedding dress, but no precise plans have been made public – until now.
A source familiar with the wedding planning claimed that guests were set to arrive in Aspen’s top hotels the five-star St Regis after Christmas Day.
Bezos, the second-richest man in the world, was said to have also booked up private mansions around the affluent town for his guests.
The wedding was set to be a whole weekend of celebrations, insiders claimed, including a rumored mountain-top ceremony with spectacular ‘winter wonderland’ views.
Among the frivolities – a buyout at Matsuhisa, sources said. It is an upscale sushi restaurant seating a maximum 180 guests. Bezos and Sánchez have been photographed on several dates at its sister restaurant, Nobu, in Malibu, California.
High-end Aspen wedding planners told DailyMail.com how the couple would have likely planned out the ceremony – including flying in vendors from around the country with iron-clad non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
‘You’d outsource pretty much everything except transportation and lighting,’ said Janie Lemons, an Aspen events planner whose weddings often cost more than $1million.
‘They’ll cherry-pick their favorite things from around the world and fly them into Aspen, whether it’s a cake from Paris, a hairstylist from New York, or a string band from LA,’ said another high-end Aspen planner, Sarah Rose Attman.
Sanchez relaxed with friends in the sun on board the $500 million Koru superyacht
Sanchez showed off her sizzling figure in the St Barts sun on the luxury yacht on NYE
The $500 million mega-yacht is also where Bezos proposed to Sanchez in May 2023
Lemons said that although many super-wealthy couples will opt for a ‘rugged’ and ‘low-key’ feel for their special day, the flower budget alone for elite weddings is often still in the ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’.
‘People go to Aspen, not to be in Palm Beach, Beverly Hills or Manhattan to be glitzy and showy with their wealth,’ Lemons said. ‘The whole MO of Aspen is to kind of be this rugged old money, “I just love hopping in my Jeep with my golden retriever to go see the horses” kind of feel.’
Bezos and Sánchez have embraced that aesthetic, famously posing for a Vogue cover last December in a sparse 4×4 on his West Texas ranch, the billionaire dressed in blue jeans and a cowboy hat and the ex-KTTV anchor in a simple white tank top.
There are limits to their modesty however: her enormous 30-carat pink diamond engagement ring was still conspicuous in the magazine photo, weighing down her left hand.
Sánchez told Vogue in November last year that, at that point, she hadn’t started planning.
‘We’re still thinking about the wedding,’ she told the magazine. ‘Is it going to be big? Is it going to be overseas? We don’t know yet.’
When asked if he would get involved in the plans, Bezos reportedly laughed and said: ‘Oh, God, no. Do I look that dumb?’
Today Show hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie took their chance when Sánchez sat for an interview on November 20 this year, cheekily asking about her wedding plans.
‘So, you asked?’ said Sánchez, looking a little exasperated.
She said she was ‘very excited about it,’ adding she was ‘thinking about the dress’.
‘I have to say, I do have a Pinterest, I’m just like every other bride, so I do have a Pinterest board,’ the billionaire’s fiancée admitted.