The March story claimed that ‘former campaign manager Paul Manafort secretly worked for a Russian billionaire with a plan to greatly benefit the Putin Government’

The defamation case brought against the Associated Press by Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska has been ‘dismissed with prejudice’ by United States District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle (PDF).

The case was brought after the AP published a story in March about Deripaska’s business ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The case claimed that there were three defamatory statements in the story: 1) “Manafort worked for Deripaska pursuant to a 2005 strategy plan that was to ‘greatly benefit the Putin Government’”; 2) “The federal Foreign Agents Registration Act requires that ‘people who lobby in the U.S. on behalf of foreign political leaders or political parties must provide detailed reports about their actions to the department”; and 3) “Manafort did not disclose details about the lobbying work to the Justice Department during the period the contract was in place.”

In her ruling, the judge said that “Deripaska does not dispute any material facts presented in the AP’s discussion of the factual background as it relates to Deripaska’s biography and his role in advancing Russian interests internationally.”

“Given this concession and the many articles cited that reference Deripaska on this topic, there can be no doubt a public controversy exists relating to Russian oligarchs acting on behalf of the Russian government.”

The judge also said that because of the oligarch’s con.

“This is precisely the area in which Deripaska can be fairly described as a limited-purpose public figure who has pursued a central place in a public controversy, particularly given that Deripaska has been the subject of more than a decade of media coverage on topics related to his wealth and his relationship with the Russian government.”

By dismissing the case ‘with prejudice’ it prevents the case from being brought again.