Christopher Harborne, who owns a company called AML Global Ltd. in Thailand, is suing The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). He says they wrote stuff about him and his company that’s not true. The article from March 2023 talked about Tether and Bitfinex and their banking connections.
He says that him and his company were wrongly linked to the illegal Tether and Bitfinex activities. The contents of the article were changed later to remove parts about Harborne and AML. The lawsuit stated that Harborne does own a bit of Bitfinex, but he’s not in charge there.
What was written in the WSJ article?
The article titled “Crypto Companies Behind Tether Used Falsified Documents and Shell Companies to Get Bank Accounts” highlighted that Tether and Bitfinex faced difficulties accessing the global banking system. It wrote, “In late 2018, the companies behind the most widely traded cryptocurrency were struggling to maintain their access to the global banking system.”
They allegedly resorted to using intermediaries, creating shell companies, and falsifying documents to overcome these challenges.
Harborne sued, saying the article wrongfully accused him and AML Global of fraud, money laundering, and financing terrorism. The WSJ later added a note on Feb. 21, 2024, removing a section concerning Harborne and AML Global to avoid implicating them in any wrongdoing related to their attempt to open an account at Signature Bank.
According to the article, companies opened new accounts by using established business executives and changing company names a little bit. Additionally, some of these accounts were reported to have engaged in illegal activities. After the article was published, Paolo Ardoino from Tether tweeted that it contained a “ton of misinformation and inaccuracies,” without specifying further details.
Harborne’s lawsuit
The WSJ article initially included several paragraphs about Christopher Harborne and AML Global’s attempt to open an account at Signature Bank. However, on Feb. 21, 2024, a week before the lawsuit was filed an editor’s note was added.
It stated that these paragraphs were removed to prevent any implication that their application at Signature Bank was part of an effort by Tether, Bitfinex or related companies to mislead banks or that Harborne or AML Global provided false information during the application process.
A spokesperson from the Wall Street Journal commented on the lawsuit, mentioning that more than nine months after the article’s publication, counsel for Mr. Harborne and AML Global raised concerns about the reporting concerning them. Following a review, the section was removed, and an Editor’s Note was added, adhering to editorial standards.
In the lawsuit, Harborne clarified that while he does have a connection to Bitfinex through a roughly 12% ownership stake, this ownership is the result of Bitfinex’s reimbursement plan for customers affected by a 2016 hack of the crypto exchange.
