The lawsuit accuses the media outlet of defamation in its cryptocurrency coverage
The Wall Street Journal will face a defamation lawsuit for an article published in 2023 that made allegations portraying illegal activities implicating cryptocurrency firms Tether and Bitfinex.
Investigative platform OffshoreAlert reports that Christopher Harborne and his company AML Global filed a lawsuit against WSJ’s parent entity, Dow Jones and Company, in the Delaware Superior Court on February 28.
Harborne holds almost a 13% stake in stablecoin issuer Tether, reportedly from Bitfinex’s repayment plan following a 2016 hack, but claims not to hold any executive position there.
“This defamation action arises from Defendant Dow Jones & Company, Inc.’s d/b/a The Wall Street Journal (the “Journal”) publication of an article in which it falsely accused Plaintiffs Christopher Harborne (“Mr. Harborne”) and AMLF of committing fraud, laundering money, and financing terrorists — even though the Journal and its reporters knew and possessed documentation that conclusively showed that those accusations are false.”
The February 2023 article contends that companies behind the Bitfinex crypto exchange “were struggling to maintain their access to the global banking system” in late 2018. The report cites documents and emails that say the circumstances led Bitfinex backers to employ “shadowy intermediaries, falsified documents and shell companies to get back in.”
The article described Harborne as “a dual British and Thai citizen, businessman, and technology investor with extensive holdings in aviation and cryptocurrency who has lived and worked in Thailand for over two decades.”
At least five paragraphs were dedicated to Harborne and AML Global’s Signature Bank account application. Nonetheless, the content has been extracted from the article since February 21, 2024, with an editor’s note added.
The Tether stablecoin had substantial growth in 2023, gaining over $20 billion in market value and reporting a net profit of $2.85 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
