FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 

Grassroots Organization Fighting Defamation Case Before Florida Supreme Court

 

(Seattle, WA - Feb 16, 2010) PhishBucket, a nonprofit organization that reports suspicious and fraudulent job offers, announced the creation of a legal defense fund. The fund was created to help fight a defamation suit filed against the consumer protection Web site.  The case, filed against PhishBucket CEO, Tabatha Marshall, was dismissed at the trial level, but in an attempt to financially intimidate the site into silence, the case has been appealed all the way to the Florida Supreme Court. 

"It's a SLAPP suit," said Marshall, adding, "The case has no merit, and the company suing me has been the subject of TV news reports and major news expose pieces.  But, they decided to go after someone who couldn't defend herself." 

The company that brought the suit is Internet Solutions Corporation.  Marshall said, “You can do a simple Google search for that company and its leader, Ayman El-Difrawi, and you'll find a plethora of information about them.  Defrawy goes by multiple aliases, including Alex Simon, Alec Difrawi, and Alec Defrawy. The company and Difrawi have filed a number of defamation suits in order to silence critics of his business practices.” 
 
SLAPP suits are intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition. "That describes this case perfectly," said Marshall.   "Eyewitness News has done an expose on this guy and his related companies, Three Stars Media and the Career Network. That investigation shows that everything I said about this company is true, and that these people need to be exposed."
 
Marshall created the legal defense fund to help with the costs of the case. "Fortunately, my attorney is a free speech advocate, and he is waiving his legal fees, but there are costs involved that I need to cover," said Marshall. Those costs include airfare and lodging for her legal team in the upcoming Florida Supreme Court case and other court costs that this case has generated to date, and is expected to generate in the future.   
 
"I wish I didn't need a legal fund," said Ms. Marshall, "but if they win, a whole lot of people stand to lose. Not just the unemployed, who have come to rely on PhishBucket's reporting, but also bloggers at large. If anyone can sue a critic no matter where they live, blogging as we know it will become a thing of the past."
 
To donate to the PhishBucket Legal Defense Fund, click here:

 

To watch WFTV's reporting on this syndicate of companies, watch here: and here: .

Contact :  Tabatha Marshall – tabatha / at / tabathamarshall / dot / com
Subject :  PhishBucket LDF

PhishBucket.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting job seekers from fraudulent job offers.

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