'Grossly inflated its damage claims': Fox News gets mixed ruling over deposition requests in Smartmatic lawsuit

Source: Law & Crime

Apr 10th, 2025, 7:52 pm


Fox News received mix news from a Manhattan judge on Thursday in an effort to obtain testimony about the valuation of voting software and hardware company Smartmatic Corp. Attorneys for the network hoped to depose billionaire Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of business-themed social media website LinkedIn.

In a bench ruling, New York Supreme Court Justice David Cohen nixed the Hoffman deposition request, according to a courtroom report by Courthouse News Service. The network aimed to get Hoffman on the record over reported comments made by one of the billionaire’s longtime associates about a meeting with Smartmatic’s top brass.

At the same time, the judge signed off on a request to depose Dmitri Mehlhorn, Hoffman’s former political strategist and business partner.

The cable news network’s deposition requests stem from a July 2024 article in The Washington Post titled, “A billionaire is boosting a major defamation lawsuit against Fox News.” The article details Hoffman’s decision to make a “multimillion-dollar investment intended in part to help the company sustain its costly litigation.” In the article by reporter Jeremy Barr, Hoffman’s own voice is absent; Mehlhorn, however, is quoted on his then-boss’s behalf.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/grossly-inflated-its-damage-claims-fox-news-gets-mixed-ruling-over-deposition-requests-in-smartmatic-lawsuit/