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A trial date for Nottingham Forest FC owner Evangelos Marinakis\u2019s High Court libel claim against a Greek football rival has been set.<\/p>\n
Mr Marinakis, who also owns Greek side Olympiacos, is suing Eirini Karypidou, the chair of Greek Super League rivals Aris, over several \u201cfalse\u201d allegations, including that he had conducted match-fixing and was involved in a high-profile drug trafficking case in the country, which he denies.<\/p>\n
He is also suing Israeli political consultant Ari Harow and his company, Sheyaan Consulting Limited, whom Mr Marinakis\u2019s lawyers claim were involved in the \u201ccreation and implementation\u201d of the \u201csmear\u201d campaign, which saw the allegations published on social media and online.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for Ms Karypidou told a previous hearing that she paid an American PR firm 25,000 US dollars (\u00a319,350), money loaned to her by a company of which she was president, to create the publications.<\/p>\n
But Ms Karypidou is defending the legal action, including on the grounds that the allegations are true and in the public interest, with Mr Harow and Sheyaan Consulting also opposing the claim.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Mr Justice Johnson ruled on several preliminary matters in the case, including the \u201cnatural and ordinary meaning\u201d of the allegations at the heart of the claim and whether they were statements of fact or opinion.<\/p>\n
In a 20-page judgment, the judge said Mr Marinakis is seeking between \u00a31 million and \u00a35 million in damages and claims the allegations against him had \u201ccaused him serious reputational harm\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Greek side Olympiacos, is suing Eirini Karypidou, the chair of Greek Super League rivals Aris, over several \u201cfalse\u201d allegations, including that he had conducted match-fixing and was involved in a high-profile drug trafficking case in the country, which he denies. (PA)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nHe continued that the publications had a defamatory meaning, but that his ruling \u201cdoes not decide who will succeed in the claim, far less whether the claimant is guilty of the conduct alleged in the publications that form the basis of the claim\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a court order in April, Mrs Justice Steyn said that a 10-day trial of the claim had been scheduled to begin on 8 March, 2027.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice Johnson said in his ruling that Mr Marinakis is suing over allegations made on a website, social media, and mobile billboards between November 2023 and March 2024, which he denies.<\/p>\n
They included three articles published on a website called \u201cnottinghamforestfire.co.uk\u201d in November 2023.<\/p>\n
Several posts were also published on X in December 2023, and six YouTube videos uploaded, including two titled \u201cMarinakis Match Fixer\u201d and \u201cMarinakis Drug Smuggler\u201d.<\/p>\n
The allegations were also displayed on mobile billboards driven around Nottingham Forest\u2019s stadium, the City Ground, on two match days.<\/p>\n
The YouTube channel, X account and website were all later taken down.<\/p>\n
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Mr Justice Johnson said in his ruling that the Nottingham Forest owner is suing over allegations made on a website, social media, and mobile billboards between November 2023 and March 2024, which he denies (PA)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nIn written submissions for a hearing in 2024, David Sherborne, for Mr Marinakis, said the \u201chighly defamatory\u201d allegations were \u201ccompletely untrue\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said they included that Mr Marinakis was a \u201cleader of a criminal organisation\u201d and \u201cguilty of match-fixing practices including extortion, fraud and arson\u201d, among others.<\/p>\n
Matthew Hodson, for Ms Karypidou, told the earlier hearing the social media campaign had \u201climited publication\u201d and \u201cfared pathetically\u201d, and that there was no evidence of \u201cactual harm\u201d to Mr Marinakis\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n
He continued that the dispute stemmed from an incident at a match between Olympiacos and Aris, which Ms Karypidou runs with her brother, Theodoros.<\/p>\n
It was claimed that in the 2022-23 season, Mr Marinakis approached Mr Karypidou to fix a \u201ccritical\u201d game between the teams so that Olympiacos would win.<\/p>\n
Mr Karypidou refused, and the game ended 2-2, with Olympiacos, who had won the league in the previous three seasons, finishing the season in third place.<\/p>\n
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In a 20-page judgment, the judge said Mr Marinakis is seeking between \u00a31 million and \u00a35 million in damages and claims the allegations against him had ’caused him serious reputational harm’ (PA)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nMr Hodson said: \u201cDuring the game, Mr Marinakis became so angry that, according to Ms Karypidou, he threatened that Theodoros \u2018would not leave the field alive\u2019 if Olympiacos lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the game, Mr Marinakis then told Theodoros, \u2018you are finished\u2019 and \u2018I will destroy you\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThereafter, Mr Marinakis began a campaign of intimidation and interference with the lives and businesses of Ms Karypidou and her brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued the claim is \u201cwholly unexplained if not as revenge for the Aris (versus) Olympiacos game\u201d and that the damages sought were \u201cutterly disproportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n
A further hearing in the claim could take place later this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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