Overview
- Judge Hunter W. Carroll granted motions to dismiss, ending Truth Media & Technology Group’s case against The Guardian, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and two reporters.
- The ruling holds that TMTG, as a public figure, failed to show actual malice, the constitutional standard required to sustain a defamation claim.
- The judge noted The Guardian’s 2023 reporting drew on multiple sources, internal TMTG communications, lender research, and unanswered information requests to federal authorities.
- The articles at issue described an SDNY inquiry into two loans totaling $8 million routed through Paxum Bank and E.S. Family Trust, entities reported to have ties to a Putin ally.
- Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute may entitle the defendants to recover attorneys’ fees, and coverage cast the decision as part of a broader run of legal setbacks linked to President Trump.