Right-wing author and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi sued his former associate Roger Stone for defamation on Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Corsi who is seeking $25 million in damages, alleges Stone lied and threatened Corsi as both men tried to distance themselves from allegations they had prior knowledge of WikiLeaks email dumps that were damaging to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit compares Stone’s behavior to that of a member of the Mafia.
Notably, the lawsuit by Corsi, 72, claims Stone’s “intentional infliction of emotional distress and coercion and threats are intended to try even cause Plaintiff Corsi to have heart attacks and strokes, in order that Plaintiff will be unable to testify at Stone’s criminal trial.”
Corsi also claims Stone’s conduct caused him “conscious pain, suffering, severe emotional distress and the fear of imminent serious bodily injury or death, and other mental and physical injuries, and Plaintiff was severely harmed and damaged thereby.”
Corsi alleges Stone is working to sway public opinion, as well as special counsel Robert Mueller, to his side and “divert funds away from Plaintiff Corsi’s legal defense fund, while boosting his own legal defense fund.” The lawsuit was filed by Corsi’s lawyer Larry Klayman.
Stone did not immediately return a request for comment.
Stone accused Corsi late last year of “working with Mueller to sandbag” him “on a fabricated perjury charge” on social media.
“The assertion made by Dr. Corsi in a number of interviews that he told me that [Clinton 2016 campaign chairman John] Podesta‘s emails had been stolen prior to their publication is false and there is no evidence to support it,” Stone told the Washington Examiner at the time.
Last month a grand jury indicted Stone on seven counts of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a congressional inquiry about communications with WikiLeaks stemming from his interview with the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017 as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Included in the indictment, Stone was accused of threatening the dog of radio host Randy Credico, an intermediary with WikiLeaks, as he pressured the host to back up the false testimony he gave to Congress.
Stone pleaded not guilty in federal court and while he has indicated a willingness to cooperate with Mueller, Stone claims he will not testify against President Trump.
Corsi, who confirmed he was “Person 1” in the Stone indictment, is a key part of Mueller’s investigation into whether there was a connection between WikiLeaks and Trump’s inner circle, but has not yet been indicted after he says he rejected a plea deal because he was unwilling to lie.
Corsi filed a federal lawsuit in December that accused Mueller of “illegal and unconstitutional surveillance” of his phone and electronic records and of leaking grand jury information. In his lawsuit, Corsi said Mueller’s team had unfairly targeted him because it has “misrepresented the investigative research” that Corsi conducted into emails exchanged between Podesta and Hillary Clinton, and because of Corsi’s “investigative deduction” that the emails would “probably be released at a later date.”
