Billionaire hedge fund manager Louis Bacon wants media boss Wendell Jones jailed for alleged contempt of court for publishing defamatory articles about Bacon in contravention of a 2012 court order.
Jones appeared before Justice Rhonda Bain yesterday for a committal hearing; however, it was adjourned to January 17 and 18 at the request of his attorney, Owen Wells, who said that his firm had been unable to contact Keod Smith, the author of the offensive articles, to prepare an affidavit in defense.
Wells said he needed another two weeks to sift through the voluminous documents obtained from a Canadian law firm to respond.
Lisa Bostwick-Dean, who appeared along with Tavarrie Smith, for Bacon, opposed the adjournment as it was simply a matter of whether "he is in contempt of the order or not".
Bain reluctantly granted the adjournment and ordered costs of $2,100 to be paid to Bostwick-Dean by December 16.
In 2012, Jones paid a nominal $100 in damages and issued a public apology to Bacon as part of a consent order in a libel case filed by Bacon.
He admitted in court that an unpaid columnist wrote defamatory articles about Bacon as part of a "smear campaign", despite having heard the writer may be working for Bacon's neighbor, fashion mogul Peter Nygard.
Jones conceded The Bahama Journal published a series of "extremely defamatory articles" about Bacon written by Earlin Williams, which alleged among other things, that the businessman was running a sophisticated international smuggling and drug trafficking ring with the co-operation and/or consent of the previous FNM government, that he attempted to drive Nygard from his home in order to continue criminal activities without interruption, that he was involved in the death of Dan Tuckfield and that he bribed government officials to cover up illegal activities, all of which Bacon has denied.
However, Bacon alleges that further defamatory articles were published on March 10, 2015; April 2, 2015; January 24, 2015; April 10, 2015; April 14, 2015; May 18, 2016 and June 2, 2016.
Artesia Davis, Guardian Senior Reporter
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
