Dominion Voting Systems filed new billion-dollar lawsuits against Newsmax, One America News, and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne for defamation over election conspiracy theories, The New York Times reports.
Dominion, which previously sued Fox News, filed $1.6 billion lawsuits against both networks and Byrne after he and the networks’ pundits falsely alleged that the company was involved in a plot to flip votes from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.
“The defendants named show no remorse, nor any sign they intend to stop spreading disinformation,” Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a statement. “We have no choice but to seek to hold those responsible to account.”
Dominion has filed similar lawsuits against former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as MyPillow founder Mike Lindell over the same conspiracy theory.
Details:
The complaints, which also name OAN reporters Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb, say that the networks “knowingly and continuously sold the false story of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, with Dominion cast as the villain.”
“Newsmax and OAN both endorsed, repeated, broadcast, and amplified a series of verifiably false lies about Dominion to serve their own commercial purposes,” the suit says. “Patrick Byrne is responsible for bankrolling and promoting a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion that reached millions of people worldwide. We are suing to set the record straight, to vindicate Dominion’s rights, to hold the defendants accountable, and to recover damages for the devastating economic harm done to Dominion’s business.”
Newsmax defends:
OAN has not commented on the lawsuit.
Newsmax pushed back on the allegation.
“While Newsmax has not reviewed the Dominion filing, in its coverage of the 2020 Presidential elections, Newsmax simply reported on allegations made by well-known public figures, including the President, his advisors and members of Congress — Dominion’s action today is a clear attempt to squelch such reporting and undermine a free press,” the company said in a statement.
