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Ben Brody-Elon Musk lawsuit: Conspiracy theorists accused Jewish man of being a neo-Nazi and then Musk got involved

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 06:36:24 +0000

CNN
—

Ben Brody says his life was going fine. He had just finished college, stayed out of trouble, and was prepping for law school. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Elon Musk used his considerable social media clout to amplify an online mob’s misguided rants accusing the 22-year-old from California of being an undercover agent in a neo-Nazi group.

The claim, Brody told CNN, was as bizarre as it was baseless.

But the fact he bore a vague resemblance to a person allegedly in the group, that he was Jewish, and, that he once stated in a college fraternity profile posted online that he aspired to one day work for the government, was more than enough information for internet trolls to falsely conclude Brody was an undercover government agent (a “Fed”) planted inside the neo-Nazi group to make them look bad.

For Brody, the fallout was immediate. Overnight, he became a central character in a story spun by people seeking to deny and downplay the actions of hate groups in the United States today.

The lies and taunts, which Musk engaged with on social media, turned his life upside down, Brody said. At one point, he said, he and his mother had to flee their home for fear of being attacked.

Now, he’s fighting back.

Brody filed a defamation lawsuit last month against Musk, the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter. The suit seeks damages in excess of $1 million. Brody says he wants the billionaire to apologize and retract the false claims about him.

Brody’s lawyer—who is the same attorney who successfully sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre —said he hopes the suit will force one of the world’s richest and most powerful men to reckon with his careless and harmful online behavior.

“This case strikes at the heart of something that I think is going really wrong in this country,” attorney Mark Bankston said in an interview with CNN. “How powerful people, very influential people, are being far too reckless about the things they say about private people, people just trying to go about their lives who’ve done nothing to cause this attention.”

Asked for comment on the lawsuit, an attorney for Musk told CNN “we expect this case to be dismissed.” Musk’s lawyers have until Jan 5, 2024, to file their response in court.

On the night of Saturday, June 24, 2023, Ben Brody was in Riverside, California.

About 1,000 miles away, a gay pride event was being held near Portland, Oregon. In recent years, the city has become a flashpoint for often violent clashes over the country’s ongoing culture wars.

It was no great surprise then that the event became a target for rival far-right groups and neo-Nazis who began fighting among themselves while protesting. Video of the skirmish, where the far-right protesters pushed and pulled at each other, quickly spread across social media.

Online conspiracy theorists soon jumped into the fray.

Rather than accept the fact that two far-right groups who have previously embraced violence were responsible for the clash, online trolls insisted it must be a so-called “false flag” event – a set-up of some kind to make the neo-Nazis look bad.

That’s when they found Ben Brody.

The day after the Pride event, Brody began getting text messages from his friends telling him to check out social media.

“You’re being accused of being a neo-Nazi fed,” he recalled some of his friends telling him.

Somehow, someone on social media had found a photo of Brody online and decided he looked like one of the people involved in the clash.

Anonymous people online, self-appointed internet detectives, began digging and found out Brody was Jewish and had been a political science major at the University of California, Riverside. On his college fraternity’s webpage, he had once stated he wanted to work for the government.

“I put that I wanted to work for the government. And that’s just because I didn’t know specifically what part of the government I wanted to work for. You know, I was like, I could be a lawyer,” Brody recalled in an interview with CNN.

His being Jewish was relevant to them because conspiracy theories are often steeped in antisemitism – suggesting there’s a Jewish plan to control the world.

Brody’s social media inboxes filled up with messages, such as “Fed,” “Nazi,” and “We got you.” He and his mom were forced to leave their family home after their address was posted online, he said.

Some of Brody’s friends began posting online, trying to correct the record and explain this was a case of mistaken identity. Brody himself posted a video to Instagram where he desperately tried to prove his innocence. He even went as far as getting time-stamped video surveillance footage showing him in a restaurant in Riverside, California, at the time of the brawl in Oregon, as proof he could not have been at the rally.

But to no avail. The conspiracy theory kept spreading across the internet, including on X. But it wasn’t just anonymous trolls fueling the lie. Musk, the platform’s owner, had joined in, amplifying the lie to his millions of followers.

Video from the Oregon event showed the masks of at least one protester being removed during the fight between the opposing far-right groups. Musk asked on X on June 25, “Who were the unmasked individuals?”

Another X user linked to a tweet alleging Brody was one of the unmasked individuals. The tweet highlighted a line from Brody’s fraternity profile that noted he wanted to work for the government after graduation.

The tweet claimed the unmasked alleged member of the far-right group was Brody, pointing out he was a “political science student at a liberal school on a career path towards the feds.”

“Very odd,” Musk responded.

Another user shared the tweet alleging Brody’s involvement and commented, “Remember when they called us conspiracy theorists for saying the feds were planting fake Nazis at rallies?”

“Always remove their masks,” Musk replied.

On June 27, having engaged with conspiracy theories about the subject over a number of days, Musk alleged that the Oregon skirmish was a false flag. “Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation,” he tweeted.

“I knew that this was snowballing, but once Elon Musk commented, I was like, ‘boom, that’s the final nail in the coffin,’” Brody recalled.

Musk has more followers than anyone else on X – approximately 150 million at the end of June, around the time he tweeted about the fight in Oregon, according to records from the Internet Archive. That tweet has been viewed more than 1.2 million times, according to X’s own data.

Brody worried his name would forever be associated with neo-Nazism, that he wouldn’t be able to get a job. Though he had finished college, he hadn’t yet graduated, and he said some of the accounts messaging him were threatening to contact his university. “My life is ruined,” he thought.

Attempting to clear his name, he gave an interview to Vice.com, which caught the attention of Mark Bankston.

Bankston is best known as the lawyer who successfully took on the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in court on behalf of parents who lost their children in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Bankston said Brody’s case is not only an opportunity to help clear the young man’s name but could also force what he views as a necessary conversation about the vitriolic nature of online discourse.

The lawsuit filed last month in Travis County, Texas (the same county in which Bankston successfully sued Jones), alleges Musk’s claims about Brody are part of a “serial pattern of slander” by the billionaire.

Musk, the suit argues, is “perhaps the most influential of all influencers, and his endorsement of the accusation against Ben galvanized other social media influencers and users to continue their attacks and harassment, as well as post accusations against Ben that will remain online forever.”

Soon after he took over Twitter in 2022, Musk said the platform must “become by far the most accurate source of information about the world.”

But, on the contrary, the suit alleges, “Musk has been personally using the platform to spread false statements on a consistent basis while propping up and amplifying the most reprehensible elements of conspiracy-addled Twitter.”

The suit outlines how Musk has engaged with accounts that traffic in racism and antisemitism and lists instances in which he publicly shared or engaged with conspiracy theories – including last October when he shared false claims about the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The suit alleges that in August after Musk was made aware through his lawyers about Brody’s case for defamation, Musk refused to delete his tweets.

Bankston and his client said the lawsuit is about a lot more than money.

“I just want to make things right,” Brody told CNN. “It’s not about vengeance. I’m not angry. It’s not resentment. I just want to make things right, to get an apology, so that this doesn’t happen again to anyone else.”

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Defense attorneys for 2 former Aurora officers standing trial for involvement in 2019 death of Elijah McClain rest their cases without calling any witnesses

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 02:54:06 +0000

CNN
—

Defense attorneys for two police officers in Aurora, Colorado, facing charges in the death of Elijah McClain during a 2019 arrest opted to rest their case in court Friday without calling any witnesses.

Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt have pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault causing serious bodily injury in connection with the 23-year-old’s death. Rosenblatt was fired by the Aurora Police Department in 2020 and Roedema remains suspended.

The case stems back to August 24, 2019, when officers responded to a call about a “suspicious person” wearing a ski mask, according to an indictment. The officers confronted McClain, a massage therapist, musician and animal lover, who was walking home from a convenience store carrying a plastic bag with iced tea.

In a disturbing interaction captured on body-camera footage, police wrestled McClain to the ground and placed him in a carotid hold, and paramedics later injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. He suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead three days later.

In 2021, a grand jury indicted three police officers and two paramedics – Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec – involved in the McClain case. They face 32 counts in total, including reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault. All five have pleaded not guilty.

They will be tried in three separate cases, with the trial of the third officer, Nathan Woodyard, scheduled to begin on Monday. Closing arguments in the trial for Roedema and Rosenblatt are scheduled for Tuesday morning. The paramedics will face a joint trial over their involvement in November.

Prosecutors in the wrongful death trial rested their case Friday morning after more than two weeks of testimony, setting the stage for the defense to begin its case, which was expected to continue for up to a week.

Roedema’s attorney had previously indicated he planned to call a police use of force expert as his witness, but both defense teams decided to close their cases Friday afternoon after Judge Mark Warner denied their motion to acquit both men. Roedema and Rosenblatt declined to testify on their own behalf, and neither defense team called a witness.

The trial for the two former officers began on September 20. Prosecutor Jonathan Bunge said in his opening statements, “You will hear no evidence in this case, none, that Elijah McClain did something criminal that night (or) that he was about to engage in criminal activity. He was just walking home.”

Bunge took jurors through the night of McClain’s interaction with police, narrating video footage from that night. He said three officers were dispatched after a 911 call from a 17-year-old boy who saw McClain walking home from a convenience store and thought it was strange he was wearing a coat and a nylon runner’s mask – something McClain did often because he was frequently cold and liked running, according to Bunge.

The prosecution alleged that during their interaction, Roedema, Rosenblatt and the third officer used excessive force without any proof McClain committed any criminal acts – despite his repeated attempts to tell them who he was – and administered two carotid control holds to subdue him.

When the two paramedics arrived, the officers failed to tell them McClain’s vital signs had not been checked and he had complained multiple times he couldn’t breathe. Instead, they told paramedics he continued to resist and had “crazy strength,” Bunge said.

The paramedics diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium,” a controversial diagnosis that describes violent agitation, and administered ketamine, CNN has reported.

They injected McClain with a dose based on an estimate that he was 200 pounds; he in fact weighed 143 pounds, according to the indictment.

Defense attorneys for both officers offered a different narrative of the encounter in their opening statements, focusing on the physical resistance the officers said they experienced from McClain.

Roedema’s attorney, Reid Elkus, alleged McClain resisted the officers and Roedema saw McClain attempt to grab one of the officers’ guns, prompting them to put him on the ground. The prosecution has disputed that McClain reached for a gun, and has said there is no evidence he did so.

The carotid hold, Elkus said, was the only time the officers were able to get McClain to stop resisting. After he was handcuffed, McClain remained responsive, the attorney said.

Defense attorney Harvey Steinberg, who represents Rosenblatt, told jurors Rosenblatt briefly attempted a carotid hold after he heard his colleague say McClain was reaching for a gun as they struggled with him.

McClain’s autopsy report was updated in September 2022 in response to new evidence from a grand jury investigation. His cause of death was changed from “undetermined” to “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint,” Adams County Chief Coroner Monica Broncucia-Jordan wrote in the amended report.

Pathologist Dr. Stephen Cina, who was assisted in the autopsy, said they could not determine whether the carotid hold contributed to McClain’s death.

In 2021, the city settled a civil rights lawsuit with the McClain family for $15 million, and both Aurora police and fire departments agreed to a consent decree to address a pattern of racial bias found by a state investigation.

The post Defense attorneys for 2 former Aurora officers standing trial for involvement in 2019 death of Elijah McClain rest their cases without calling any witnesses appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Newport News, Virginia, school shooting: Families of 2 students in Virginia school where 6-year-old student shot his teacher notify district of potential legal action, attorneys say

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 06:09:52 +0000

CNN
—

The families of two students who attend a Virginia school where a 6-year-old student shot and wounded his first-grade teacher last month have filed notices of potential legal action against the school district.

The parents of a first-grader at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, say their daughter suffered from emotional harm after being present in class when her classmate shot his teacher on January 6, according to a legal notice filed by attorney Cheri Belkowitz.

The letter, dated January 30 and sent to former Superintendent Dr. George Parker, also claims that the daughter was “subjected to numerous incidents of bullying, harassment, assault and battery” during the school year. However, administrators “did not take reasonable and appropriate actions to protect” the student, despite being made aware of these issues.

The family of another student alleges their child suffered injuries on the day of the shooting, according to a letter sent by the parents’ attorney, Emily Mapp Brannon, to the city of Newport News. The January 30 letter does not include details on the injuries mentioned. At the time of the shooting, police said no one else was physically injured aside from the teacher.

The school district would not comment in response to the letters. CNN reached out to both attorneys for the families but did not immediately hear back.

The families’ intent to potentially pursue legal action against the district is the latest blow to officials following intense criticism from frustrated parents over the way the situation was handled by administrators.

After the shooting, the superintendent was ousted by a vote from the school board, the school’s assistant principal resigned, the former principal was reassigned to another location, but the district did not say where. The school also implemented additional security measures including metal detectors and clear backpacks.

Further, the letters were filed roughly a week after the teacher’s attorney notified the Newport News School Board of intent to file a lawsuit over administrators’ alleged failure to act when they were allegedly made aware of reports about a gun being on school premises.

Teacher Abigail Zwerner was shot around 2 p.m. on January 6 inside a classroom, roughly 90 minutes after former assistant principal Dr. Ebony Parker was allegedly informed reports of the gun, according the legal notice filed by attorney Diane Toscano, the teacher’s attorney

Toscano’s legal notice also detailed allegations of disturbing behavior displayed by the 6-year-old child prior to the shooting.

Two days before the shooting, the student allegedly “slammed” and broke Zwerner’s cell phone and cursed at guidance counselors, after which he was suspended, according to the document. After the one-day suspension, he returned to Zwerner’s classroom and shot her.

On the day of the shooting, another teacher overheard Zwerner say the 6-year-old student was in a “violent mood,” had threatened to beat up a kindergartner at the school and “angrily stared down the security officer,” according to the legal notice.

After the shooting, the 6-year-old was placed under a temporary detention order and was evaluated at a local hospital. His family has previously said he has a disability he was receiving treatment for at the school.

The post Newport News, Virginia, school shooting: Families of 2 students in Virginia school where 6-year-old student shot his teacher notify district of potential legal action, attorneys say appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Dispute over $100 repair bill may have played a role in Half Moon Bay shootings that left 7 dead, district attorney says

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 16:26:18 +0000

CNN
—

A dispute over a $100 repair bill may have contributed to a pair of shootings that left seven people dead and another injured last week in Half Moon Bay, California, the San Mateo County district attorney told a local news station.

Chunli Zhao – the farmworker who faces seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in connection to the attack – “had a dispute with the first victim regarding a $100 bill” for the cost of repairing a piece of farm equipment involved in an accident at California Terra Garden, the mushroom farm where Zhao worked, lived and allegedly killed his first four victims, Steve Wagstaffe told station KTVU.

“We feel none of the conduct is justified,” Wagstaffe said. “But we’ve got a lot to learn.”

Wagstaffe’s comments came soon after Zhao, 66, reportedly admitted in an interview with NBC Bay Area News to carrying out the shootings, which stunned the coastal city of Half Moon Bay amid a spate of mass shootings in California that claimed 19 lives over about 44 hours.

CNN has not been able to confirm independently what Zhao said in the interview and has reached out to his attorneys for comment.

Statements the suspect made to law enforcement “were consistent with what he told the reporters,” Wagstaffe told CNN on Monday, referring to the NBC Bay Area News interview.

“But I am not declaring it a fact that (the $100 bill dispute) sparked the shooting,” he said. “Much more investigation to do. But it is certainly what Zhao is saying.”

Last Monday, officers responded to the mushroom farm to find four people dead and one wounded, before finding three more dead at a separate site about 2 miles away, officials have said.

Zhao, a Chinese citizen, was a “coworker or former coworker” of the victims, and he allegedly targeted specific people, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus told CNN, characterizing the attack as a “workplace violence incident.”

In a 15-minute interview conducted in Mandarin, Zhao told NBC Bay Area’s Janelle Wang he wasn’t in his right mind and didn’t know “what was happening mentally” when the shootings occurred, Wang said. The suspect expressed remorse and said he regrets the attacks, telling the reporter he believes he has some type of mental illness that he has struggled with for a while.

In a statement last week, a spokesman for California Terra Garden said all employees “had background checks, and there was nothing to indicate anything like this was even a possibility,” adding the company knew nothing of Zhao’s motive.

The shooting claimed the lives of Yetao Bing, 43; Qizhong Cheng, 66; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50; Aixiang Zhang, 74; Jingzhi Lu, 64; and Zhishen Liu, 73; per the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office. The seventh victim was tentatively identified, but the office withheld the name pending positive identification and the notification of the next of kin.

Among the dead were five Chinese citizens, according to China’s consulate in San Francisco.

Zhao’s arraignment is scheduled for February 16, when he is expected to enter a plea.

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