Kate Mangels recently spoke with CNN about new bribery and money laundering charges facing Smartmatic, a company that builds and operates electronic voting systems, which has been suing Fox News and other pro-Trump figures for defamation. In 2020, after President Donald Trump lost the election, he and other pro-Trump figures claimed that Smartmatic flipped the votes of millions and cost him the election. Smartmatic responded by filing defamation lawsuits against these outlets and figures, seeking damages.
Now, the Department of Justice has filed new foreign bribery and money laundering charges against Smartmatic, claiming that in the 2016 election in the Philippines, it paid a top election official to obtain contracts for the election. The article explores how these charges could impact the pending defamation lawsuit, as it will be difficult to prove Smartmatic is still suffering from the 2020 defamatory claims instead of from the recent bribery and money laundering charges.
Kate weighs in on the situation with CNN and notes that the new indictment “severely limits” Smartmatic’s ability to claim damages from the 2020 election defamatory claims.
“The defendants in the defamation lawsuits will likely argue that, to the extent Smartmatic’s reputation has been harmed, it is impossible to tease out what harm came from the alleged defamation and what harm came from the indictment,” she shares.
