Wall Street Journal Accused of Defamation Over 2023 Tether-Bitfinex Article

The
owner
of
a
Thai-based
aviation
fuel
broker
has
accused
The
Wall
Street
Journal
of
defamation
for
an
article
he
says
falsely
accused
him
of
abetting
allegedly
illegal
activities
at
stablecoin
issuer
Tether
and
crypto
exchange
Bitfinex.

According
to

the
lawsuit
filed
in
a
Delaware
state
court
on
Feb.
28,
Christopher
Harborne
and
his
company,
AML
Global
Ltd.,
were
wrongly
accused
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
March
2023

article,
“Crypto
Companies
Behind
Tether
Used
Falsified
Documents
and
Shell
Companies
to
Get
Bank
Accounts,”
reported
that
Tether
and
corporate
sibling
Bitfinex
were
“struggling
to
maintain
their
access
to
the
global
banking
system.”
In
response,
“some
of
their
backers
turned
to
shadowy
intermediaries,
falsified
documents
and
shell
companies
to
get
back
in,
documents
show,”
the
Journal
said.

“The
companies
opened
new
accounts
by
using
established
business
executives
and
tweaking
company
names,”
the
newspaper
continued.
And
some
of
those
accounts,
the
Journal
said,
engaged
in
illegal
behavior.

(After

the
story
came
out
last
year,
Tether’s
Paolo
Ardoino

tweeted
that
it
contained
a
“ton
of
misinformation
and
inaccuracies,”
though
he
wasn’t
specific.)

When
published,
the
story
included
several
paragraphs
on
Harborne
and
AML.
On
Feb.
21,
2024,
a
week
before
the
lawsuit
was
filed,
an
editor’s
note
was
added:
“A
previous
version
of
this
article
included
a
section
regarding
Christopher
Harborne
and
AML
Global,
which
applied
for
an
account
at
Signature
Bank.
The
section
has
been
removed
to
avoid
any
potential
implication
that
AML’s
attempt
to
open
an
account
there
was
part
of
an
effort
by
Tether,
Bitfinex
or
related
companies
to
mislead
banks,
or
that
Harborne
or
AML
withheld
or
falsified
information
during
the
application
process.”

Asked
about
the
lawsuit,
a
Wall
Street
Journal
spokesperson
said:
“More
than
nine
months
after
the
article
was
published,
counsel
for
Mr.
Harborne
and
AML
Global
contacted
us
to
dispute
the
five
paragraphs
that
included
reporting
about
them.
Following
our
review,
we
removed
this
section
from
the
article
and
appended
an
Editor’s
Note
in
accordance
with
our
editorial
standards.
The
lawsuit
they
filed
against
Dow
Jones
is
itself
replete
with
inaccuracies
and
distortions.
We
take
our
journalistic
responsibilities
seriously,
and
we
intend
to
mount
a
robust
legal
defense.”

Harborne,
in
the
lawsuit,
said
he
does
have
a
connection
to
Bitfinex:
a
roughly
12%
ownership
stake
–
the
result
of
Bitfinex’s

reimbursement
plan
for
customers
stemming
from
a
2016
hack
of
the
crypto
exchange.
“Mr.
Harborne
is
not
now
and
never
has
been
in
any
management
or
executive
role
at
Bitfinex
or
Tether;
he
is
merely
a
minority
shareholder,”
according
to
the
lawsuit.