After Dismissal of Lawsuits Against Him, Butowsky Vows Vengeance
Last week a federal judge dismissed two defamation lawsuits brought against Fox News and financial advisor Ed Butowsky related to the network's reporting about the murder of Democratic aide Seth Rich, according to the New York Times. But the Texas-based FA tells InvestmentNews he's going after anyone who's negatively affected his life and business, including individual financial advisors he says poached his clients.
Judge George Daniels of the Southern District of New York dismissed the suit by Rich's parents, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan in March, charging that the TV network caused them emotional distress when it had allegedly fabricated a story accusing their son of leaking insider information from the Democratic National Committee and suggesting he was killed in 2016 in retaliation, the Times writes.
The suit also named a Fox News reporter who wrote the story as well as Butowsky, who appeared regularly on Fox News and allegedly helped the reporter, according to the New York Times.
Judge Daniels also dismissed another lawsuit against the network brought by a private investigator recommended by Butowsky to Rich's parents, the Times writes. The detective had accused Butowsky of defaming him on Twitter, according to the paper.
Fox News declined comment to the Times, while lawyers for the Fox News reporter and Butowsky tell the publication they're pleased with the decision.
But Butowsky is far from letting it go, according to InvestmentNews.
"Anybody who did anything negative to me as a result of the lawsuit will pay," Butowsky tells the publication. "I'm going to sue the hell out of a lot of firms. I want to see these people choke on their nerves and go through the same crap I had to go through."
Butowsky, managing director of Chapwood Investments, tells InvestmentNews his firm lost about a third of its business in 2017 "related to a made-up story by a greedy lawyer."
"I lost a lot of clients on day one," he tells the publication. "Some wouldn't even pick up the phone, and the ones that did wouldn't listen to my side of the story. And the clients that stayed with me are still skeptical."
The advisor also tells InvestmentNews that he's still pursuing a $100 million lawsuit he filed in April against Charles Schwab Corp.
Ed Butowsky
In that suit Butowsky accused the company of kicking him off its custodian platform because of political bias. He told InvestmentNews at the time that getting pushed off the platform — after a 12-year relationship with Schwab — caused Chapwood's assets under management to fall by $45 million and the loss of "over 268 customer accounts." A Schwab spokeswoman told the publication it had terminated the relationship following a business review of Chapwood, which Schwab doesn't discuss publicly.
Butowsky is also going after individual financial advisors, according to InvestmentNews.
"To those financial advisers that went after my clients, I know who they are, and I'm going to go after them and my clients," he tells the publication.
The advisor also tells InvestmentNews he stands by the Fox News story, which Fox News had retracted within a week of its publication, according to the Times.
By Alex Padalka
To read the InvestmentNews article cited in this story, click here.
To read the New York Times article cited in this story, click here.
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