A legal news publisher in New Zealand has been ordered to provide information to a wealthy Russian businessman who wants to sue him for defamation.
John Bowie? published a series of articles – now deleted – on the Wellington-based website LawFuel in 2020 about, or connected with, Sergey Grishin?, a wealthy Russian-born businessman.
Grishin? became newsworthy when he sold Prince Harry and Meghan Markle their new Californian mansion for more than US$14 million, but he normally kept a low profile, his New Zealand lawyer Willy Akel?? said.
LawFuel articles also referenced another Californian property he had sold, which was a set used in the 1983 crime drama movie Scarface.
Grishin said he planned to sue Bowie for defamation and asked for the High Court in Wellington to order certain documents be provided for him to properly form his claim.
The application included the source of a video or image of Grishin holding a large gun in an antique store in Japan.
Grishin is in a dispute with his ex-wife Anna Fedoseeva, and suggested the LawFuel articles had blown the domestic dispute out of proportion, Justice David Gendall? said in his decision.
Bowie had acknowledged that Fedoseeva’s new business or personal partner Jennifer Sulkess? was a source.