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Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) has brought a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against The Washington Post over the weekend, seeking damages for an “egregious hit piece that falsely accused TMTG of securities fraud and other wrongdoing.”
According to the suit, TMTG has alleged that a former employee of TMTG worked in tandem with the newspaper to publish an article that amplified “false criminal charges” and “exposed TMTG to public ridicule, contempt and distrust” that “injured TMTG’s business and reputation.”
From the filing:
“WaPo’s latest defamation creates an existential threat for TMTG, causing enormous loss. TMTG brings this case to recover special damages to its business and good will, actual injury to its name and reputation, and punitive damages for WaPo’s gross misconduct.”
TMTG is seeking $3,780,000,000.00 in damages for this alleged defamation, pointing out the massive online following and Floridian readership of The Washington Post and its potential effect on the business reputation of the Sarasota-based technology company.
The suit specified the article in question, “Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain stake in Trump’s Truth Social,” which was published on May 13, 2023.
The filing included a list of nine allegedly false statements ranging from accusations that Trump’s media company took out an $8 million loan in exchange for stock without notifying the SEC to a colorful claim that a Russian banker involved in the porn industry gained a stake in Truth Social, Trump’s social media venture.
Further:
“WaPo was not content with publication of the false Statements to its 2,500,000 subscribers and republication to its 20,000,000 Twitter followers. The primary author of the WaPo Article, Drew Harwell (‘Harwell’), republished the Article to his 48,000 Twitter followers, which included correspondents at CNN, New York Times, NBC News, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, Business Insider, and the Guardian.”
Truth Social was first launched in February 2022 as a free-speech alternative to Big Tech platforms like Twitter and Facebook.