Altaf ‘Aly’ Nazerali fought a seven-year-long legal battle against U.S. conspiracy theorists, and won. In 2011, a baseless campaign of defamation and libel was launched against the Canadian international businessman.

In September 2011, Mark Mitchell, the principal writer for Deep Capture.com, a conspiracy theory blog owned and operated by Patrick Byrne, the founder and CEO of Overstock.com, wrote numerous outlandish and unsubstantiated stories about Nazerali.

The Precedent-setting Injunction

In October 2011, Nazerali filed suit and obtained an injunction against Mitchell, Byrne, and others for defamation and libel in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The precedent setting injunction shut down Deep Capture for several months. But in a court appearance in December 2011, the defendants pleaded, among other things, truth and justification.

The matter went to trial in April 2015, with final arguments in September 2015.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia Ruling

In May 2016, the Supreme Court of British Columbia deemed the defendants’ actions an egregious personal attack against Nazerali demonstrating “an indecent and pitiless desire to wound,” and ruled in his favour. The ruling included the largest monetary award of its type in British Columbia, one of the largest in Canada, and culminated in permanent injunctions against the defendants.

The U.S. defendants appealed the ruling through the B.C. courts, and in June 2018, sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. In August 2018, just three months later, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision not to hear the case, bringing the protracted legal battle to a close.

Aly Nazerali was finally – and fully – vindicated.

Aly Nazerali Reflects on the Case in a 2018 Video Interview

In a video interview posted on August 23, 2018, Nazerali discusses the personal impact of this protracted legal battle.

Judgements in the Case

The full Supreme Court of British Columbia judgement can be found here. The judgement related to costs can be found here.

Press Coverage of the Case

The Gold-Hoarding CEO Who Wants to Be Governor
The Daily Beast | November 28, 2015

If It Can Happen to Me it Can Happen to Anyone
South Asian Post | May 10, 2016

Vancouver Businessman Wins C$1.2 Million for Internet Libel
The Vancouver Sun | May 6, 2016

Overstock CEO’s Fake News Woes Continue as the Media Wakes Up
Huffington Post | March 3, 2017

 If it Can Happen to Me, it Can Happen to You
Asian Pacific Post | August 28, 2018

‘Wild West of the Internet’: Seven-year Online Defamation Battle Ends with $1.1-million Award
Vancouver Sun |  August 31, 2018