He also accused The Intercept, which has reported extensively on Prince’s business and political activities, of engaging in a “crusade” to discredit him and of a “history of false reporting” about him. He accused the reporters of acting with “malice” for publishing the story after Prince’s lawyer had denied it. In his complaint, Prince described the story as “entirely fictional.” He denied meeting with the Wagner official or offering his services to the group. Sean McFate, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and former military contractor, described the Wagner Group in the story as an “instrument of Russian policy.” Because the Trump administration had sanctioned the group in 2017 over its role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, any business dealings with Wagner could have exposed Prince to legal liability, the story noted. Wagner’s fighters have been deployed to conflicts around the world in recent years, including in Syria, where dozens of them were killed in a U.S. The Wagner Group is a Russian semi-private military force that often operates at the behest of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It also cited three unnamed sources saying that Wagner did not do business with Prince. Prince ‘met with a top official of Russia’s Wagner Group and offered his mercenary forces to support the firm’s operation in Libya and Mozambique.’” The story included a denial by Prince’s attorney. The lawsuit alleges that The Intercept published false and defamatory statements “that Mr.
In the complaint, Prince claimed that The Intercept published “false or misleading statements about him and his business” and accused him of “being a criminal and a traitor.”
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York after an earlier suit brought in Wyoming was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. Erik Prince, founder of the private security firm Blackwater, filed a defamation lawsuit against The Intercept last month over an article published in 2020 that examined his efforts to sell military services to a sanctioned Russian mercenary company.
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