Verity News publisher Martin K. N. Kollie has until Sept. 13 to answer a US$500,000 defamation claim over Facebook posts that businesswoman Stephanie Audrey Kpoto says branded her an international cocaine trafficker, or face judgment against him by default.
Kpoto filed the damages action at the Civil Law Court for the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Montserrado County, where Resident Circuit Judge J. Kennedy Peabody presides. A writ of summons issued Sept. 3 orders Kollie to appear Sept. 21 at 10 a.m. and to file an answer by Sept. 13.
The complaint centers on posts Kpoto says Kollie published between Aug. 22 and Aug. 26. She alleges he named her, displayed her photographs and her passport, directed users to her Facebook page and called for her arrest, her imprisonment, the seizure of her assets and her pursuit through Interpol.
According to the complaint, Kollie did not present the accusations as allegations or attribute them to another source. Kpoto says he described his claims as "100% truth," "100% fact" and "undisputable," and told followers he was "not saying allegedly."
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The complaint says he called her a "Drug Capone" and a "leading capone," accused her of living on trafficking and money-laundering proceeds, and said she used her legitimate business as cover for moving drugs. It alleges he claimed international business partners brought in consignments, that Liberia National Police officers protected and escorted her, that she registered vehicles in other people's names, and that she gave vehicles, cash and other benefits to officials in exchange for protection while using diplomatic privileges to facilitate trafficking. Kpoto says the posts cast her as a coordinator, or "point person," for a cartel that used Liberia as a storage and transit point.
The complaint also draws in former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor. Kpoto alleges Kollie accused her of introducing drug traffickers to Howard-Taylor and of channeling "dirty" money to the former vice president's foundation. She says he alleged that funds received by the Jewel StarFish Foundation, including money for COVID-19 projects, came from drug proceeds while she was its executive director.
Kpoto denies the conduct. Her complaint says she has not trafficked cocaine or other drugs, laundered proceeds, operated a criminal shell company, coordinated a cartel or bribed officials for protection, and that no court has convicted her of any of it.
She alleges Kollie acted with actual malice, either knowing the accusations were false or disregarding whether they were true. She points to his insistence that the claims were fact, his refusal to say "allegedly," his repeated calls for her arrest and the seizure of her property, and posts she says urged followers to spread the accusations.
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The harm went beyond social media, Kpoto says. She alleges that people and organizations in Liberia and abroad avoided, distrusted or distanced themselves from her, and that she faced questioning and suspicion while traveling. She attributes visa denials, canceled meetings, interrupted professional engagements, lost contracts and lost business opportunities to the posts, and claims emotional distress and continuing damage because the publications remain searchable and shareable.
She is asking for US$500,000 in compensatory and general damages, saying the value of the canceled contracts, lost profits, prospective business and visa-related costs will be particularized before the court, and for any further relief the court finds just.
The complaint invokes Article 15 of the constitution, arguing that constitutional protection for free expression does not shield its abuse, and cites Liberian Supreme Court decisions and common-law defamation principles.
