Defamation suit from GA election workers drives popular far-right website into bankruptcy

24 April 2024

Former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss have filed multiple lawsuits over what they contend were false and harmful statements propagated about them following the 2020 election. Now, one of those civil defendants has filed for bankruptcy.

Mediaite reported Wednesday that the parent company for the Gateway Pundit – a far-right website known to spread false statements about the 2020 election, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war — had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida. Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft wrote in a post to the site on Wednesday that parent entity TGP Communications was seeking bankruptcy protection due to "progressive liberal lawfare attacks."

"This is not an admission of fault or culpability," Hoft wrote. "This is a common tool for reorganization and to consolidate litigation when attacks are coming from all sides. It allows TGP to consolidate this lawfare in one court for ultimate resolution."

According to Mediaite, Freeman and Moss sued the Gateway Pundit in late 2021, alleging that Hoft and his twin brother Joe launched a "campaign of lies" that "instigated a deluge of intimidation, harassment, and threats that has forced them to change their phone numbers, delete their online accounts, and fear for their physical safety."

Nonprofit group Protect Democracy, which is representing Freeman and Moss through its Law for Truth project, wrote that the Hoft brothers "knowingly disseminated blatantly false stories claiming that Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss were involved in a conspiracy to commit election fraud, and continued to publish these untruths long after they were proven to be false."

"The Gateway Pundit has not retracted or corrected any of its false statements, and has continued to repeat them throughout 2021 and 2022. Its numerous articles boasting that it was the first publication to name Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss as committing ballot fraud remain online," Protect Democracy posted in a statement to its website.

Hoft isn't the only civil defendant who has sought bankruptcy protection to avoid having to pay Freeman and Moss. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani — who was also former President Donald Trump's personal attorney until 2021 — is also currently in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings after Freeman and Moss were awarded roughly $150 million in damages last December.

Giuliani was one of the main purveyors of the lie that Freeman and Moss engaged in illegal behavior while they were poll workers in Fulton County, Georgia. Moss testified that after she was forced to leave her job due to ongoing threats and harassment, she had difficulty finding employment elsewhere. During a job interview at fast food chain restaurant Chick-fil-A, one of the hiring managers showed Moss an image of herself emblazoned with the word "TRAITOR."

"Is this you? Is this true?" The manager reportedly said.

"I was so shocked. I was so embarrassed ... I just had to leave. I just left," Moss said.

Click here to read Mediaite's full report.

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