Fox News loses bid for Smartmatic voting-tech company's records about Philippines bribery case
Smartmatic is not required to give Fox News a trove of information about U.S. federal charges against the voting machine company’s co-founder over alleged bribery in the Philippines
Smartmatic won't be required to give Fox News a trove of information about U.S. federal charges against the voting machine company's co-founder over alleged bribery in the Philippines, a judge ruled Thursday.
Fox News and parent Fox Corp. sought the information to help fight Smartmatic's $2.7 billion defamation suit over broadcasts about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Smartmatic says its business was gutted when Fox aired false claims that the election-tech company helped rig the voting.
Fox says it was simply reporting on newsworthy allegations made by then-President Donald Trump and his allies.
The Aug. 8 indictment of Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate and two other executives concerns a geographically distant matter: Smartmatic's efforts to get work in the Philippines between 2015 and 2018.
But Fox maintains the criminal case is pertinent to Smartmatic's business prospects, and therefore to the election-tech company's claims about what it lost and stands to lose because of Fox's 2020 coverage.
“As of Aug 8, governments will have to take into account the risks of doing business with a company (where some executives have been) accused of serious corruption by the U.S. Department of Justice," Fox lawyer Brad Masters told a New York court Thursday.
He asked the court to order Smartmatic to provide any documents that it has given to the DOJ for the bribery investigation; any customer inquiries about the criminal charges; and any staff communications about the matter and its impact on the company.
The indictment accuses Piñate and
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