NYT: “Marinakis appealed to a London court against Irini Karypides” –

New York Times Athletic feature reveals that Vangelis Marinakis appealed to a London court, against Irini Karypides, regarding a series of defamatory publications about criminal activities.

Daniel Taylor, who writes the report, cites the content of court documents.

The article in detail:

The Athletic can reveal that Evangelos Marinakis, owner of Nottingham Forest, is suing one of his rivals in Greek football in a defamation case which is in the early stages at the High Court in London.

According to court documents, Marinakis alleges in his lawsuit that Irini Karypidis, president of the Greek club Aris Thessaloniki, collaborated with Ari Harrow, Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, to conduct a six-month campaign of “false and defamatory” allegations against the man he funded. the return of Forest to the top division of England.

According to court documents, they agreed to set up an anti-Marinakis website, nottinghamforestfire.co.uk, as well as a social media account, a YouTube channel and two promotional posters displayed in Nottingham city before away matches.

The documents cited by the Athletic claim that in a series of articles, posts and videos about Olympiacos ownership, Marinakis was accused of being “the leader of a criminal organization known as ‘The System’, through which he and others participated in criminal activities”. and corrupt practices to gain control of football in Greece.

The lawsuit also states that there were plans to fly a plane over Forest’s ground with a message against Marinakis, with the aim of turning fans against him.

Evangelos Marinakis’ lawyer, Christopher Scott, testified in a New York court that his client was described as “deeply and actively involved in drug trafficking” in relation to Noor One, and was also charged, according to his legal team, for the fact that he secretly benefited from the trafficking of Russian oil, despite the fact that he publicly stated his opposition to the attack on Ukraine.

The lawsuit also states that it was proposed and drafted in a newspaper questioning whether the Premier League had investigated Nottingham Forest’s victory over Huddersfield in the 2022 league play-off final.

The legal documents detail how, when the Marinaki side began an investigation to find out who was responsible for the moves in question, their trail led to a Texas-based marketing firm.

According to the Marinakis side, further investigation revealed that the agency’s director of political operations, was responsible for the creation of the @nottinghamff X account, which produced more than 200 posts and cited, as one example, that Marinakis had been “suspended because he was a member of a match-fixing ring in Greece”.

Subsequently, the side of the owner of PAE Olympiacos allegedly discovered that Harris Media had received two wire payments connected to the campaign. Court records show one was for 29,950 euros (25,000 pounds, $32,500) from Amani Swiss, a Cyprus-based company of which Karypidis is president and CEO and her partner, Dimitris Messinezis, the sole shareholder. Another payment of $25,000 came from Sheyaan Consulting, an Israeli company of which Harow is managing director.

Marinakis, owner of Forest since 2017, is suing both companies at the High Court in London for defamation. He also turns against Karypides as the “apparent ringleader” and Harrow for his alleged involvement.

Marinakis has always denied involvement in any criminal activity and, although he has been investigated in the past in connection with fixed games and Noor One, he has never been sentenced for an offense of this nature. In his lawsuit, his lawyers say he has suffered “immense stress and distress” because of what they consider to be outdated and discredited claims and that he has also suffered financial losses estimated at £2.1 million when his lawsuit was filed in April.

Court documents also reveal that Marinakis’ lawyers “blocked” the relevant YouTube channel, as well as taking action to take down the website and account X which used language such as “our club” and “paid for by the fans”, supposedly to disguise who was behind.

When Forest played Bournemouth on 23 December 2023, a billboard van drove around Nottingham city center for eight hours, as well as the streets near the stadium, displaying the message “Why is Evangelos Marinakis on the naughty list?” directing citizens to the website.

Two weeks later, Nottingham Forest drew at home to Blackpool. Then, another van did the same, until security personnel stopped it on a road next to the stadium. On the truck was a QR code that linked to the website.

Anyone who visited the website, according to what the Marinaki side claims, would see a timeline for the years 2011, 2014, 2015, 2021 and 2023 and tabs titled “Organized Crime,” “Drug Trafficker,” “Match Consultant,” ” Offender’, ‘Murderer?’ At the same time, readers were encouraged to “Stand up for Justice and a corruption-free future in football” by signing up for updates.

Marinakis, in turn, made efforts, through specialist lawyers and investigators, to find out who was responsible – and then bring the suspects to justice.

A major breakthrough came when Marinakis’ legal team instructed Wales to allow information to be obtained from third parties knowingly or unknowingly involved in offences.

All of this led Vangelis Marinakis’ lawyers to Harris Media and according to US legal documents, a series of e-mails were revealed that, according to the lawsuit, placed Karypidis at the center of the operations.

In emails filed in a US court titled “Airplane Banner” on December 18, 2013, Randle appeared to explain to Karypides and Harrow that the weather in Nottingham was too bad to use an airplane.

The Harris Media executive went on to say that the campaign’s adverts were placed at 22 bus stops in Nottingham and one van was ready to ‘run onto the pitch during the pre game and one during the match. “We’ve got eight hours…so we might as well use them all.” That, Randle added, was “within our budget.”

Vincent Harris, the company’s founder and chief executive, appears to have shared in the same email chain and also seemed frustrated about the bad weather disrupting plans for the banner. “I suggest we go ahead,” Harris wrote, “and at worst we actually hit him for the next home game!”

Harris was described by Bloomberg in 2014 as “the man who invented the Republican internet.” He was hired by Trump in 2016, but their partnership lasted for a week. He was previously on Sen. Rand Paul’s team and, according to Marinakis’ legal arguments, partnered with Harrow through a series of moves, including Harris Media’s involvement in Netanyahu’s 2015 campaign. The firm has offices in Austin as well as in Miami, Ohio and Tel Aviv.

“Hi Vincent,” Karipidi replied in the emails. “I understand that the weather in Nottingham is bad all the time. From now on it will be every week like this so I suggest we don’t try again with these weather conditions if we are not sure. Better with the van and I believe we will have similar reactions! Try what you think is best.”

The emails state that on January 8, Karypidi sent a new message to Harris Media for an update on “the plane and bus stops.”

What is not mentioned in the lawsuit is what may have led Karipidis to target Marinakis and why the relationship between them had apparently become so acrimonious.

Her brother, Thodoris, is the owner of Aris, who are top of this year’s Greek Super League. Olympiacos is fourth in the standings. The two men were once close allies, but that appears to have changed dramatically in the past 18 months and Theodoros is now seen as an ally of AEK, one of Olympiacos’ main rivals.

Irini, who is also the president of the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, allegedly sent Harris Media a list of 80 journalists, as well as 16 X accounts, to “stick” with their anti-Marinakis posts.

Marinakis is also seeking injunctive relief to ensure that authorities do not pursue further charges.

“The smear campaign was deliberately designed to conceal the identity and involvement of the conspirators, who anonymized the posts on various platforms and created the false impression that a grassroots, fan-led campaign was funding the campaign,” Scott reports in court documents.

“The known conspirators also concealed any ties to the campaign, using various entities as conduits for payments and transactions.”

The Athletic reached out to Irini Karipidis, but did not pursue any media comment from her attorneys. However, it is understandable that she is ready to face Marinakis in court.”