From Prince v. The Intercept, decided today by Judge Loretta Preska (S.D.N.Y.):
Plaintiff claims that an August 13, 2020 article … published by The Intercept defamed Plaintiff by portraying him as meeting "with a top official of Russia's Wagner Group and offer[ing] his mercenary forces to support the firm's operations in Libya and Mozambique." {The Article described the Wagner Group as "a semi-private military force that operates in countries or conflicts where the Russian government seeks plausible deniability for its activities, but which is often equipped and supported directly by the Russian Ministry of Defense."}
Plaintiff denies that he (1) met an "official from or representative of the Wagner Group," (2) "offered his services to support the Wagner Group's operations in Libya and Mozambique," or (3) "sent the Wagner Group a proposal to offer his services in Libya and Mozambique." Plaintiff also denies "caus[ing] any third party to meet with or submit a proposal to the Wagner Group on his behalf." Because counsel for Plaintiff conveyed to Mr. Cole Plaintiff's denial that he met representatives of the Wagner Group prior to the Article's publication, Plaintiff contends that Defendants published the statements with knowledge of their falsity. Defendants included this denial in the published Article. …
The opinion is long, and has lots of interesting procedural twists having to do with choice of law and personal jurisdiction; I can't do the full thing justice here right now, but here's what strikes me as the heart of the analysis:
