Gubarev VS BuzzFeed

The Russian businessman suits an American online publication because of the British dossier on Trump

Screenshot from the BuzzFeed Inc. site

Ex-employee of the British intelligence of the Mi-6 Christopher Steal, the compiler of the sensational “Dossier Trump”, perhaps soon will be in the headings of the world news: the Federal Court of Miami (USA) has sanction to ensure that 53-year-old Style, one of the directors of the private analytical company Orbis Business Intelligence with an office in a prestigious London Belgravka area (

More detailed about this cm. NT No. 1 for 2107 ), under the oath, testified to the lawyers of the Russian businessman Alexei Gubarev. The Russian is one of the defendants in Trump's Dossier, first published on January 10, 2016, a popular American online publication BuzzFeed. In the “Dossier”, in particular, it was argued that the hosting Internet companies belonging to Gubarev intervened in the campaign in the United States in 2016 on the side of the Republican Donald Trump. In early February 2016, the outraged Gubarev and his two companies were filed against the Buzzfeed website and his chief editor of Ben Smith's lawsuit for slander in one of the courts of Florida, who was later transferred to the federal court in Miami. Gubarev filed a separate claim for the protection of honor and dignity in London against the compiler of the “dossier” - Christopher Steel.

Context

“Trump’s dossier” Buzzfeed published in the form of an article “In these certificates, it is stated that Trump has close ties with the Russian Federation” and attached a 35-page document “confidentially” to it. The essence of the anonymous text, consisting of 17 short inquiries: Trump’s election headquarters was in collusion with the Kremlin, from which a pretty compromising evidence was assembled on it. The first paragraph “Dossier” reads: “The Russian regime processes Trump and promotes it at least five years. The goal that Putin supports is to contribute to the straightening and discord in the Western community. ”

The second paragraph states that “Trump has so far rejected the rugs in the form of various real estate transactions, offered to him in Russia in order to contribute to its processing by the Kremlin. However, he and his immediate environment received a regular stream of intelligence from the Kremlin, including about democrats and other political opponents. ”

The judge of the Mayam court Ursula Ungaro allowed Gubarev’s lawyers to appeal to the British court with a request to force Christopher Steel to give them the necessary testimonies. During this interrogation, observers hope, the style will finally have to tell who paid for the famous “dossier”

The US intelligence agencies received the “dossier” not in January 2017, but before and shortly before Trump's inauguration presented him and Barack Obama to a two-page squeeze from it.

The “dossier” also had a number of publications that were not sure of his authenticity and were in no hurry to far from his publication. Buzzfeed dared to become a pioneer and printed his text entirely, covering only a few names.

The site honestly stipulated that not all the facts falling into the “dossier” are confirmed or generally lending on, and some are definitely incorrect. The idea was that although BuzzFeed does not vouch for the content of the “dossier”, the site still considers it worthy of publication, since it is of great public interest.

Having familiarized himself with him, the world media almost unanimously considered the “dossier” not reliable enough and if they later mentioned it, then more like a curiosity.

The publication, however, made a slight sensation - mainly a description of the rampant fun Trump. Being in Moscow in 2013, the billionaire-deck allegedly asked him to be settled in a room in which Obama and his wife Michelle had previously stopped, and as if he had paid native prostitutes to urinate in the same bed. The “dossier” used the term “golden rain”. Trump denied this fun and in the end noticed that he was generally a hermophobic, that is, he was mortally afraid of microbes, like a millionaire Koreiko. In other words, he would never call strangers to arrange rains in his bed.

Occasion

Passage dedicated to the 36-year-old Russian businessman Alexei Gubarev (whose surname was written in the original as “Gubarov”), as well as his companies XBT Holding SA, Webzilla and their branches, present on the last page “Dossye”-it is dated December 13, 2016.

According to the compiler of the “dossier” Christopher Steel, from March to September 2016, Gubarev’s company allegedly “used botnets and porn traffic in order to send viruses, implement bugs, kidnap data and conduct operations to change the software (software) against the leadership of the Democratic Party.” Gubarev and another Khaking Expert, Seva Kapsigovich, both recruited by the FSB under pressure, played a significant role in this operation, "the dossier says.

In his 12-page statement against BuzzFeed Gubarev, who has been living in Cyprus for 15 years, and his two companies resolutely refute this: none of the plaintiffs applied botnets and porn traffic to conduct operations against the US Passport or someone else and did not take cyber attacks, Russian lawyers write.

Also, according to them, Gubarev was not recruited by the FSB either under pressure or without it, has no idea about who Seva Kapsugovich is, and did not see him in life.

Plaintiffs

A remarkable detail: Gubarev did not file a lawsuit to protect honor and dignity against the style in the United States, but did it in England. The fact is that in America it is extremely difficult to win such a lawsuit, especially if the offended refers to the so -called “public figures”, that is, politicians, populists, writers and other noticeable persons. Gubarev does not apply to those - he is “completely unknown outside the technological circles,” the statement of claim said. It also emphasizes that Gubarev, a native of Ust-Ilymsk (Irkutsk region of the Russian Federation), is not a public figure and, for example, never participated in political life, but peacefully “repaired the primuses” in Cyprus, where he moved in 2002 at the age of 22 and since then he created a lot of companies, in particular, hosting, having 75 thousand servers in many countries in many countries Mira. For example, 40% of the operations of the Gubarevsky company HBT, which is also the plaintiff, are served by a server in Dallas. And in total, the United States accounts for 27% of its global commercial activities. At the same time, the company is registered in Luxembourg and, among other things, has representative offices in Florida and Texas. About 300 people work in it.

Another company-trunk, Webzilla, is spelled out in Florida and has a head office in Fort Lleoderdele.

However, the court can nevertheless recognize Gubarev as a “public figure”, and then it will be more difficult for him to win a lawsuit - in this case, he will have to prove not only that the statements in the “dossier” do not correspond to the truth, but also that the defendants published them with evil intent.

Gubarev, a native of Ust-Ilimsk, is not a public figure and, for example, never participated in political life, but peacefully “repaired primuses” in Cyprus, where he moved in 2002 at the age of 22 and has since created a lot of companies there, in particular, hosting, having 75 thousand servers in many countries of the world

According to the lawyers of the plaintiffs, the statements published by the defendants that Gubarev and his companies allegedly participated in the secret Russian operation to undermine the American elections, damaged him personal and business reputation, before that impeccable, deprived him of the credit line, scared away potential partners and threatened the safety of himself, his wife and three young children. In addition, the wife of businessman Anna, the plaintiffs say, became an object of attacks on the Internet.

Respondent

The defendant in the lawsuit-the BuzzFeed site-is registered in Delaware and has departments in 18 cities of the world, including in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Sydney, San Paulo and Tokyo. BuzzFeed is visited more than 200 million times a month - it is one of the 100 most visited sites in America. According to the plaintiffs, by the time of the excitement of the claim, that is, by the beginning of February 2016, the Trump Dossier was watched almost 6 million times on it. The cost of the site is estimated at $ 1.7 billion.

Buzzfeed, according to Gubarev’s lawyers, claims that before being published, the “Dossier of Trump” was at the disposal of the site for several weeks and that four reporters were engaged in the verification of the statements contained in it. Nevertheless, neither the site, nor his chief editorial for Smith had never bothering to contact Gubarev or his companies to ask if the truth of the author of the “dossier” correspond to the truth. But more than 30 journalists from other media were not too lazy to do this, and some of them even had to fly to Cyprus.

BuzzFeed is visited more than 200 million times a month - it is one of the 100 most visited sites in America. According to plaintiffs, by the time the claim is excited, that is, by the beginning of February 2016, Trump's Dossier was viewed almost 6 million times on it

In a word, there is a clear omission by Buzzfeed, and it is atypical for American journalists, who, as a rule, request comments from those who they write about, and even more so in such a context. Among other things, this rule helps the press in which case prove its good faith.

The plaintiffs notice that although the editor -in -chief Smith admitted to doubts about the reliability of a number of the provisions of the “dossier”, he nevertheless did not remove from him the name of Gubarev and the name of his companies before publication. The site did this only retroactively when Gubarev’s lawyers warned Buzzfeed about the upcoming lawsuit. In addition, BuzzFeed apologized for the admission, but - a good spoon for dinner.

Prospects

Despite the fact that Gubarev filed his lawsuit in February, his consideration is still in the initial stage - the American femid is extremely slow. True, the defendants have already managed to ask Judge Ursulu Ungaro either to close the case due to the lack of jurisdiction, or transfer the case to the Manhattan Federal Court, where they, as they believe, have more chances to fight back. But the judge refused them the other day.

In addition, Judge Ungaro allowed Lawyers Gubarev to appeal to the British court with a request to force Christopher Steel to give them the necessary testimonies. It is worth recalling that in January 2017, Style, barely erupted, left his home in London and disappeared in an unknown direction, leaving numerous issues, the main of which-who nevertheless ordered and paid for the “Dozie”, convicting the current president of the United States and his team in relations with Russia. In March 2017, Steal returned to London and talked with the press, but this question was left without intelligible answers. According to observers, now, after the decision of the Maymsky judge Ungaro, who went to meet the lawyers of Gubarev, there was a chance to get them.

Judge Ungaro allowed Gubarev’s lawyers to appeal to the British court with a request to force Christopher Steel to give them the right testimony