A barrister has launched defamation proceedings against Fairfax over an article alleging he spent decades helping Texas billionaire Bob Brockman defraud the United States of US$2 billion in taxes.
The columnist behind two allegedly defamatory Australian Financial Review articles has told the court that he believed former Blue Sky managing director Dr Elaine Stead was “cretinously stupid” because of her “astonishingly ridiculous” behavior on social media at the time of the company’s collapse.
Nine-owned Fairfax has denied that two Australian Financial Review articles implied that venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead “deliberately” destroyed capital, as it seeks to significantly reduce the defamation case it faces.
Being called a fraud is not as bad as being labelled a “terrible investor”, venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead has said during trial in her high-profile defamation case against the Nine-owned Fairfax over two articles about her involvement in the failed investment company Blue Sky.
Venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead has taken the stand in a high-profile defamation case against the Nine-owned Fairfax, saying that she felt “shame, embarrassment, humiliation and guilt” over two allegedly defamatory Australian Financial Review articles about her role in the collapsed investment firm Blue Sky.
Former Blue Sky Capital venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead is seeking over $671,000 in damages from the publisher of the Australian Financial Review over two articles she describes as a “misogynist attack” and “vitriolic abuse” that did significant damage to her professional reputation.
Two psychiatrists at the heart of the Chelmsford deep sleep therapy scandal have had their defamation cases against publisher HarperCollins dismissed ,with a judge finding the lawsuits were an attempt to “rewrite history” regarding harm done to patients receiving their controversial treatment.
A judge has set aside a subpoena issued by venture capitalist Elaine Stead in her defamation lawsuit against Fairfax, saying subpoenas could not just be issued “willy nilly” to identify a journalist’s confidential sources.
Venture capitalist Elaine Stead wants Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston to hand over documents connected to confidential sources, and says Aston can’t rely on a journalist’s privilege protecting the identity of informants.
Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston sent “very nasty” text messages about venture capitalist Elaine Stead, and any in-person mediation ahead of Stead’s defamation trial is unlikely to be worthwhile given the animosity between the pair, a court has been told.