Billionaire self-funding Senate hopeful Jeff Greene, who's been on the receiving end of extensive media scrutiny in his Florida race to be the Democrat challenging independent Charlie Crist and Republican Marco Rubio, is vowing to sue the St. Petersburg Times if they don't print a retraction this Sunday.
At issue is a Times story about Greene's real estate transactions that ran over the weekend, and a subsequent editorial that delved into a project at the periphery of Death Valley. It's a lengthy story and one that is better read undistilled. Greene's own letter, filed by lawyer L. Lin Wood — who was involved in the JonBenet Ramsey case — is linked in a PDF.
The letter alleges that the paper had dozens of documents that it ignored and that it misreported facts. I'd recommend reading the story, then reading the letter.
But the letter demands a retraction of "equal" size to the original story in the Aug. 15 edition of the paper, or a lawsuit will follow. As I understand it, under Florida libel laws, the notice demanding a retraction is the first step toward a lawsuit, like a notice of claim.
From the letter: "The Times reporting falsely accuses an extremely successful businessman and viable candidate for high office of serious crimes. The resulting damage to my client's reputation from this false reporting can only be measured in the many millions of dollars unless the Times immediately corrects its libel. Failure to do so will unquestionably lead to litigation in order to hold the Times accountable for its wrongdoing."
The letter lists 21 statements in the two pieces it claims are "false and defamatory." It's also very long and legally aggressive letter - again, I'd urge you to read the whole thing because a summary won't quite do.
It's not a move one usually sees during a political campaign — usually such a move comes after, and generally when a candidate has lost. There have been a few recent stories about other suits involving Greene, including one in Forbes about someone alleging defamation against him, and one he filed against director Ron Howard over a house the businessman owned in California that was rented during a movie shoot. - Politico Story
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