Elon Musk has been hit with a defamation lawsuit after falsely accusing Ben Brody, a recent college graduate, of being a federal agent embedded with a neo-Nazi group as part of a “false flag” operation.
Brody, 22, filed the lawsuit on Monday after intense harassment related to Musk’s accusations that were amplified on X (formerly Twitter). The recent college graduate says that he and his family were forced to flee their home after significant threats against Brody.
The lawsuit says that Brody “has been forced to bring this lawsuit due to the astonishingly reckless conduct of the wealthiest man on the planet.”
“In yet another example of Elon Musk’s serial pattern of slander, he falsely told the world that Ben Brody participated in a violent street brawl on behalf of a neo-Nazi extremist group,” the suit said.
The lawsuit is focused on a fight between the neo-Nazi group Rose City Nationalists and the Proud Boys, which took place in Oregon. The video footage from the brawl quickly went viral and one of the participants was misidentified on the social media platform as Brody.
“Musk made these ridiculously false and damaging accusations based on a tweet he had seen from an anonymous far-right extremist Twitter account,” the lawsuit claims. “After amplifying the claim for two days, Musk personally leveled these accusations against Ben Brody, and it has led to severe personal harassment and permanent damage to his reputation.”
Brody is being represented by attorney Mark Bankston, who previously represented two Sandy Hook parents, winning $45 million in damages against Alex Jones. Brody is seeking more than $1 million in damages against Musk.
The lawsuit notes that Musk was informed of the defamation claim on Aug. 9.
“It has become clear that Musk will not stop unless someone stops him. It seems that responsibility now falls upon a shy young man whose world has been shaken by Musk’s reckless conduct,” the filing states.
