Hedge Fund Priest Sues Bloomberg L.P.; Reporter, Editor For $100 Million

From the press release:

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., May 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg, L.P. and two Bloomberg employees, Jesse Westbrook, a Bloomberg editor, and Matt Robinson, a Bloomberg reporter, were sued today for defamation in Massachusetts Superior Court.  The plaintiff, Father Emmanuel Lemelson, seeks $100 million in compensatory damages for defamation in a March 18, 2016 Bloomberg article by Robinson.

Robinson's March 18 article, "Hedge Fund Priest's Trades Probed by Wall Street Cop," wrongly reports that Lemelson "is being investigated by U.S. regulators for possible stock manipulation" and other factually inaccurate allegations.  The defamatory article cites no statement or source from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or any other federal agency that would be positioned to confirm the allegations.  Nor does the Bloomberg article cite or quote any reliable source that could confirm the claims.

Official records reveal that neither Robinson nor Westbrook or any other Bloomberg employee ever submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the SEC for any information that would have established their defamatory allegations.  Additionally, as cited in the complaint, Robinson was specifically told by the plaintiff that neither he nor his firm were the target of any investigation.  Yet, Robinson replied that "I am going to write that you are being investigated anyway," the complaint alleges....MORE

Here's the Bloomberg story:

A priest who sidelines as a hedge-fund manager is being investigated by U.S. regulators for possible stock manipulation, prompting scrutiny of trading skills that the cleric has described as a “gift from God,” according to people with knowledge of the matter....