Lawsuit: Rogue Wikipedia editors conspired to manipulate Wikipedia pages to ruin reputation of philanthropist, charity he co-founded

Suit filed by former ‘Louie, Louie’ lead singer Yank Barry and Global Village Champions Foundation established by Barry, boxing legend Muhammad Ali Lawsuit alleges Wikipedia editors engaged in conspiracy over the last year by intentionally posting defamatory statements about Barry on Wikipedia Complaint alleges defendants ‘stated the facts upon which the opinion is based, the facts are incorrect or incomplete.’ Lawsuit: Defamatory statements caused damages in excess of $10-million
(PR NewsChannel) / June 19, 2014 / VENTURA, Calif. and SARASOTA, Fla. 

Global Village Champions FoundationWikipedia is the free encyclopedia, written by the people who use it. Four of those Wikipedia “editors” conspired to manipulate the Wikipedia page of philanthropist Yank Barry by posting false or misleading information about him and his charity, according to a lawsuit filed in California Superior Court.

Wikipedia, according to its own website, “is a special type of website designed to make collaboration easy.” But Barry claims the lack of oversight and “easy” collaboration made it too easy to do him harm.

The suit names three Wikipedia editors along with a one identified only as “Does 1-50.” The lawsuit says the false statements and manipulation of his page cost the former Louie, Louie lead singer business to the tune of more than $10-million.

Barry and the Global Village Champions Foundation filed the suit. Global Village was co-founded by Barry and Muhammad Ali and has as its champions boxing greats Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson along with celebrities Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J and Steven Seagal.

“Plaintiffs are informed and believe and thereon allege that the statements published and posted by defendants are defamatory per se because they are viewed as so serious that they naturally cause harm and the existence of injuries are presumed from the fact of publication,” the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit also says that the Wikipedia editors removed “truthful and verifiable content from the Wikipedia pages pertaining to plaintiffs with the intent and purpose to downplay, minimize, attack or criticize favorable content about the plaintiffs all with the intent and purpose of highlighting and focusing reader attention on the false and defamatory content published and posted by defendants with the aim and purpose, as stated by defendants, ‘of threatening plaintiff Yank Barry’s livelihood because his means of livelihood are extremely suspect.’”

Barry has recently been featured on CNN and CNN International, and interviewed by written about in the Jerusalem Post, Canada’s Globe and Mail, TIME among others, for his work freeing Syrian refugees in Bulgaria, but at times none of those references were included on Barry’s Wikipedia page.  

Barry says he tried every measure to correct the accuracy of his page on Wikipedia but was left with no choice but file suit against the Wikipedia editors who were filling his page with false or misleading information.

“My page was so ridiculously false and made be sound like a terrible person and people believed it causing deals to fall through,” says Barry. “I finally had enough.”

DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE LAWSUIT HERE

For more information on Yank Barry please visit: thepublicityagency.com/yank-barry/

MEDIA CONTACT
Glenn Selig
PR firm: The Publicity Agency
Email: 
Phone: 813-708-1220 x7777 | Cell: 813-300-5454

Direct link:  https://prnewschannel.com/2014/06/19/lawsuit-rogue-wikipedia-editors-conspired-to-manipulate-wikipedia-pages-to-ruin-reputation-of-philanthropist-charity-he-co-founded/

SOURCE:  Global Village Champions Foundation


This press release is distributed by PR NewsChannel. Your News. Everywhere.