Christopher Harborne — who goes by the name Chakrit Sakunkrit in Thailand — is a Bitfinex shareholder, the number one supporter of Brexit, and is suing the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for defamation.
The multimillionaire, who made his money from an aviation fuel company and a number of almost-too-brilliant crypto investments, is taking on the News Corp-owned WSJ over an article entitled ‘Crypto Companies Behind Tether Used Falsified Documents and Shell Companies to Get Bank Accounts.’
The article, which was only corrected a week ago, is nearly a year old and the lawsuit appears to be coming out of left field. The correction states:
“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.”
BoJo donor Christopher Harborne named as intermediary in Tether fraud claims
Read more: Bitfinex Securities hasn’t seen a single trade in two months
Defamation in Delaware
The original claims of the article seem to have largely revolved around Christopher Harborne, his alias Chakrit Sakunkrit, and another individual, Stephen Moore, who had reservations about Bitfinex’s banking arrangements. Apparently, the allegations made within the article were enough for Harborne to bring a suit against the WSJ a year later, post-correction.
The choice of venue for the lawsuit — Delaware — is slightly puzzling. The WSJ is headquartered in New York and it could be that Harborne is attempting to avoid the state’s well-known Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) legislation.
This isn’t the first time Bitfinex or a Bitfinex shareholder has taken on a seemingly unbeatable opponent: in 2017 Bitfinex sued Wells Fargo in a desperate attempt to keep customer dollars flowing into and out of the exchange. The suit was dropped very shortly after.
