By Tom Ozimek
Former President Donald Trump’s social media company is suing Jeff Bezos-owned The Washington Post for defamation and is seeking $3.78 billion in damages for an article that allegedly damaged the Trump company’s reputation and caused “enormous harm.” :
The lawsuit was filed by Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), which owns the social media platform Truth Social, on May 20 in Florida state court in Sarasota County (pdf).
It accuses The Washington Post of defamation over a May 13 article that the complaint labeled a “brutal attack” that posed an “existential threat” to the Trump company.
The lawsuit alleges that the Washington Post article, titled “Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could get stake in Trump’s ‘Truth Social,'” included a series of “materially false” statements alleging that Trump owned the company in fraud and other wrongdoing.
“WaPo’s false criminal allegations exposed TMTG to public ridicule, scorn and distrust, and damaged TMTG’s business and reputation,” the complaint says, while The Washington Post accuses the owner of Truth Social for years. continuously crusading.
The complaint further states that “WaPo’s latest defamation poses an existential threat to TMTG, causing enormous loss.”
The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
“Materially False”
The lawsuit alleges that The Washington Post made a series of false statements about TMTG in a May 13 article that the paper distributed to its 2.5 million subscribers and then in subsequent social media posts.
The nine alleged false claims listed in the complaint are:
“An obscure financial entity … will acquire a significant stake in former President Donald Trump’s media company if its merger deal goes ahead.”
“ES Family Trust’s role in the Trump Media and Technology Group was never formally disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission. [“SEC”] or to the shareholders of Digital World Acquisition [“DWAC”]the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that proposed to merge with the Trump Company”;
“The companies also failed to disclose to shareholders or the SEC that Trump Media paid a $240,000 finder’s fee to help arrange the $8 million loan deal with ES Family Trust.”
“…the recipient of that payment was an outside broker associated with Patrick Orlando, then CEO of Digital World.”
“Orlando finder’s fee could affect stock value”;
“Trump’s media company took out an $8 million loan for stock, but no one told the SEC.”
“Trump Media. this time they borrowed from a bank known for adult entertainment, pledged the company’s stock against the loan, and didn’t tell the SEC.”
“Russian banker linked to porn industry may have bought stake in Trump’s Truth Social, documents show”.
“The Guardian reported in March that federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether the Trump Media loans violated money laundering rules.”
The complaint challenges the authenticity of the statements, alleging that they are “materially false” and that they “immediately convey a defamatory meaning to readers,” suggesting that TMTG committed securities fraud, that it engaged in “improper conduct designed to conceal material facts” from DWAC shareholders and the SEC, and that TMGT was being investigated for money laundering.
“WaPo statements impute TMTG crimes, dishonesty, lack of integrity and corporate wrongdoing,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit further states that the WaPo was “unsatisfied” with the distribution of the announcements to its 2.5 million subscribers and 20 million Twitter followers.
“In order to further spread the defamation and increase the damage to TMTG, WaPo engaged agents both inside and outside the company to widely republish the defamation,” the complaint states, listing various instances of the article being posted and reposted on social media. in networks.
“WaPo’s frenzy of republishing and repeated concerted harassment demonstrate a conscious, deliberate, organized, and coordinated effort to spread false and defamatory statements worldwide to inflict the greatest possible damage on the Trump Company,” the lawsuit said.
Truth Social launched last year as an alternative to social media platforms Twitter and Facebook. It caters to conservatives, many of whom have said they have been discriminated against on mainstream platforms.