It’s déjà vu all over again

From Les Machado:

Three “international businessmen” claim they were defamed by certain statements contained in one of the reports comprising the “Trump Dossier.” The one-count defamation complaint against persons involved in the dossier’s creation alleges one (out of 17) reports in the dossier made false and defamatory statements about the plaintiffs. The defendants respond to the complaint by filing an anti-SLAPP special motion to dismiss.

If this sounds familiar, you are not experiencing déjà vu. The same three plaintiffs sued Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson, who allegedly retained Christopher Steele to research any Russian connections to Donald Trump, in DC federal court last year. In that suit, which remains pending before Judge Leon, Fusion and Simpson have filed an anti-SLAPP special motion to dismiss (see prior blog entries on the federal court suit here and here).

In April, the same three plaintiffs sued Christopher Steele and Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd. in DC Superior Court. The Superior Court complaint mirrors the federal court complaint, alleging that certain statements and the headline in CIR 112 (the only report that mentions plaintiffs) are false and defamatory because they suggest plaintiffs and Alfa Group “cooperated in the alleged Kremlin-orchestrated campaign to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign”; that Alfa Group is close to Putin and two of the plaintiffs have been giving him informal advice; and that a former Alfa Group employee gave Putin cash in the 1990’s and is now high up in the Putin administration, where he can facilitate communications between the plaintiffs and Putin.