Founder and owner of Gawker Media Nick Denton has been accused of hiding money and “playing down the value” of his company after being ordered to pay over $140 million in damages to former wrestling champion Hulk Hogan.
The blogging network, along with Denton and former editor in chief AJ Daulerio, was ordered to pay Hogan $140 million after posting a portion of his private sex tape on their main outlet, Gawker.com, in 2012, but the company has been seeking to appeal the court decision ever since.
“Gawker is now beginning the process of challenging the jury’s verdict in a trial where key evidence was wrongly withheld and the jury was not properly instructed on the Constitutional standards for newsworthiness… and even if the verdict were to stand, there is no justification for awarding tens of millions of dollars never seen by victims of death and serious injuries,” said Gawker in a statement.
The company also claimed that it “would be ruinous” to their business should they have to pay the $140 million owed to Hogan, declaring Gawker to be worth only $83 million.
“In my opinion, it’s very hypocritical that Mr. Denton continues to cloak himself in the Constitution while it also appears he’s expatriating great sums of money to Eastern Europe, potentially to avoid taxation and creditor issues,” said Hogan’s lawyer to the NY Post.
Hogan’s lawyers accuse Denton of hiding this money through “inflating license fees” to a European-based sister company, but Gawker has refused to release the transfer documents that would either confirm or dispute this.
“We emerged victorious once and we plan to do so again,” stated Hogan’s legal team on the subject of Gawker’s appeal. “Of note it is apparent Gawker is unable to accept responsibility for their actions or demonstrate any intention of correcting their behavior.”
It was previously reported that only 7% of Americans sided with Gawker in the sex tape trial. 77% of those polled claimed that the outlet’s actions were completely “unacceptable.”
Charlie Nash is a frequent contributor to Breitbart Tech and former editor of the Squid Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington.
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