The cryptocurrency firm Bitcoin Latinum has sued journalists at Forbes and Poker.org, claiming that the writers made false and defamatory statements in articles that described securities fraud lawsuits filed against the crypto firm.
Bitcoin Latinum and its founder, Donald Basile, filed a libel lawsuit against Forbes reporter Cyrus Farivar and another libel lawsuit against Poker.org and its reporter Haley Hintze. (Farivar was a long-time Ars Technica reporter.)
The lawsuits are surprising because the Forbes article and the Poker.org article, both published in 2022, are very much like thousands of other news stories that describe allegations in a lawsuit. In both articles, it is clear that the allegations come from the filer of the lawsuit and not from the author of the article.
But both of Bitcoin Latinum’s lawsuits, which were filed last week in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, demand that the articles be retracted. They contain the following claim in exactly the same words:
The Article contains statements which insinuate and lead the reader to believe that Assofi’s allegations against Plaintiff Latinum and Plaintiff Basile are factual and correct, and which statements are not couched as the opinion of the author, but rather, are presented as fact, and therefore do not fall under any applicable privilege.
“Assofi’s allegations” are those made in a lawsuit filed against Bitcoin Latinum and Basile in November 2022. That lawsuit from Arshad Assofi, who said he lost over $15 million investing in worthless tokens, alleged that Bitcoin Latinum “is a scam” and accused the defendants of securities fraud and other violations. Bitcoin Latinum calls itself “the future of Bitcoin.”
Lawsuit cites wrong article
It’s especially surprising that Bitcoin Latinum’s lawsuit against Hintze contains the statement about “Assofi’s allegations” because the Hintze article cited in the lawsuit never mentions Assofi. The Hintze article on Poker.org is about a different lawsuit from different plaintiffs who also alleged securities fraud.
In fact, the Hintze article was published in February 2022, 10 months before the Assofi lawsuit was filed. TechDirt’s Mike Masnick pointed out this error in an article yesterday:
It appears that Latinum’s lawyer actually meant to sue over a different Poker.org article, that was published in November about the Assofi lawsuit, but repeatedly claims that the article was published on February 5, 2022, rather than the actual publication date of the article she meant, which was November 21, 2022. Also, Latinum’s lawyer included the February 5th article as the exhibit, rather than the November 21st article. Such attention to detail to talk about the wrong article and include the wrong article as an exhibit. Top notch lawyering.
Masnick also points out that the statute of limitations is two years, and the lawsuit against Hintze was filed more than two years after her February 2022 article.
In libel cases, journalists may defend themselves with the “fair report privilege.” This applies to accurate reporting on official government matters, including court proceedings.
The lawyer for Bitcoin Latinum in the Farivar and Hintze cases is Holly Whitney, who specializes in estate planning and probate cases. We contacted Whitney and Bitcoin Latinum about the lawsuits today and will update this article if we get a response.
Crypto firm angry about “actual products” line
Masnick calls the lawsuit against Farivar “a clear SLAPP case,” also known as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. It is “a ridiculously silly SLAPP suit that only serves to drive that much more scrutiny on Bitcoin Latinum” and “should make everyone question whether or not you’d trust a cryptocurrency that is suing a reporter who merely quoted the lawsuit against them,” Masnick wrote.
Farivar’s November 2022 article says, “The world of cryptocurrency is awash with scammers and companies that don’t have actual products,” which is a statement about the crypto industry in general and not specific to Bitcoin Latinum. Still, the lawsuit against Farivar highlights this statement as proof of libel.
“This statement insinuates, and leads the reader to believe, that Plaintiffs do not have ‘actual products,'” Bitcoin Latinum’s lawsuit says. “This insinuation is an affirmative imputation that Plaintiffs have committed a crime under federal deceptive trade practices and/or fraud laws.”
Assofi’s claims against Bitcoin Latinum were eventually submitted to binding arbitration, and the court case was dismissed in October 2023 as a result.
Company also doesn’t like Star Trek reference
Farivar’s article also points out that Bitcoin Latinum is named after a fictional currency called Latinum from the Star Trek universe, and that Assofi’s lawsuit alleges that Bitcoin Latinum is “worthless” and a “scam.”
The libel lawsuit against Farivar objects to all of these statements. It complains that Farivar’s article “quotes the Assofi Complaint and refers to Bitcoin Latinum as ‘worthless’ and a ‘scam.'” But Farivar’s article makes it clear that these are quotes from the lawsuit.
Bitcoin Latinum’s lawsuit also claims that Farivar’s reference to the fictional Star Trek currency made it seem like the actual Bitcoin Latinum cryptocurrency isn’t real:
The Article also states: “[a]n investor in a scarcely known cryptocurrency called Bitcoin Latinum—named for a type of money that exists only in the fictional Star Trek universe—says that he was defrauded out of more than $15 million.” This statement is not true.
This statement and [sic] leads the reader to believe, that Latinum, or the Bitcoin Latinum Tokens, are not real, or that the Bitcoin Latinum Tokens are “fictional” currency. This insinuation is an affirmative imputation that Plaintiffs have committed a crime under federal deceptive trade practices and/or fraud laws. This statement is also an affirmative imputation that Plaintiffs will not provide a product or service to their customers.
The Bitcoin Latinum lawsuits demand that Farivar and Hintze remove their articles and issue retractions and corrections. The lawsuits also seek financial damages.
We contacted Farivar, Forbes, Hintze, and Poker.org today and will update this article if they provide any comment on the lawsuits.