Highs and lows: American Pharoah’s owner sued for libel

Just before his horse won the Triple Crown, Ahmed Zayat was crowned, too — with a $10 million libel lawsuit.

The lawyer for the man who alleges that Ahmed Zayat has failed to pay a $2 million gambling debt filed a $10 million libel suit on Monday.

Source: Ahmed Zayat, American Pharoah’s Owner, Is Named in $10 Million Libel Suit – NYTimes.com

It begins:

The lawyer for the man who alleges that Ahmed Zayat has not paid a $2 million gambling debt filed a $10 million libel suit on Monday against Zayat, the owner of American Pharoah.

Joseph Bainton, the lawyer for Howard Rubinsky, said Zayat maliciously defamed him when he told reporters that the original lawsuit was “extortion, a fraud and blackmail.”

In the complaint, Bainton refers to articles in The Daily News, The Associated Press and outlets as far away as The Daily Mail in London, where Zayat had characterized Rubinsky’s suit as complete “fiction.” Bainton also refers to an Observer.com article on May 23, in which Zayat commented on the timing of the lawsuit.

“It’s a fraud,” Zayat told The Associated Press. “It’s a scam from A to Z. It’s total fiction. It’s a total lie.”

Methinks Mr. Zayat doesn’t know the definition of libel (thank you, Black’s Law Dictionary):

A defamatory statement expressed in a fixed medium, esp. writing but also a picture, sign, or electronic broadcast…[and] libel per se…1. Libel that is actionable in itself, requiring no proof of special damages. 2. Libel that is defamatory on its face, such as the statement, “Frank is a thief.”

Or, I’m just guessing, but: “It’s a fraud…It’s a scam from A to Z. It’s total fiction. It’s a total lie.”

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