Desmond to testify in racketeering and defamation case

Dermot Desmond, the billionaire financier and Independent News & Media shareholder, is due to give evidence in the coming weeks as part of an increasingly bitter federal lawsuit he has taken against a commercial rival in the US over allegations of racketeering, extortion, harassment and defamation.

Mr Desmond is due to give a deposition – pre-trial oral testimony that is subject to cross-examination by his opponent's lawyers – in his case against Paul Siegel and Globecon. This company is a rival to Mr Desmond's Intuition Publishing, an e-learning publisher.

He has asked the court in New Jersey to prohibit Mr Siegel, who has admitted setting up a spoof website lampooning Mr Desmond, from publicly disclosing the contents of Mr Desmond's oral testimony. He also wants the court to prevent Mr Siegel from "making any threats or engaging in harassment".

In a court filing this month, Mr Desmond claimed Mr Siegel, who previously tried to sue him over allegations that Intuition had stolen Globecon’s property, has an “abusive history”. As evidence to support his claim, Mr Desmond this month filed details of a restraining order taken out by Mr Siegel’s former wife. He also included text messages that Mr Siegel allegedly sent to his daughter, as well as details of alleged altercations involving Mr Siegel and his children following his recent divorce.

The case between Mr Desmond and Mr Siegel, which may come to full trial later in the summer, is the culmination of an 11-year tussle between the two men with its roots in a commercial dispute.

Mr Siegel previously tried to sue Intuition and Mr Desmond for $10 million after a staff member moved from Globecon to Intuition.

Mr Siegel alleged Intuition then copied Globecon’s e-learning content. The case was later dismissed for lack of evidence, without prejudice, meaning Mr Siegel could re-file it if he found new evidence.

Mr Desmond later received a letter from Mr Siegel, seeking money to settle their dispute and referring to his own “tenacity”. Mr Desmond wrote back to refuse and warned Mr Siegel that after dealing with the Irish man, he would “know the meaning of the word tenacity”.

Mr Desmond accused Mr Siegel of blackening his name through the spoof website – meetdermotdesmond.com, no longer active – which ridiculed him with bizarre claims about his personal and professional life.

Mr Desmond unmasked Mr Siegel as the author of the website after he initiated legal action against GoDaddy, the online hosting company.

Mr Siegel’s defence regarding the website is that it constitutes humour and satire, and that he had a right to publish it under the liberal free speech laws of the US.

Mr Desmond has succeeded in getting his original defamation case upgraded to a federal racketeering case under Rico laws, which were brought in to combat the mafia. He convinced a judge to allow it be upgraded by providing details of allegations against Mr Siegel involving other people going back to 1990.

Mr Siegel, who denies he has engaged in any illegality, declined to comment while his lawyers did not respond. A lawyer for Mr Desmond responded, but did not provide any comment beyond the arguments presented to the court.