Smartmatic won’t be required to give Fox News a trove of information about U.S. federal charges against the voting machine company’s co-founder over alleged bribery in the Philippines, a judge ruled Thursday.
Fox News loses bid for Smartmatic voting-tech company’s records about Philippines bribery case
Smartmatic won’t be required to give Fox News a trove of information about U.S. federal charges against the voting machine company’s co-founder over alleged bribery in the Philippines, a judge ruled Thursday.
Fox News and parent Fox Corp. sought the information to help fight Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation suit over broadcasts about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Smartmatic says its business was gutted when Fox aired false claims that the election-tech company helped rig the voting.
Fox says it was simply reporting on newsworthy allegations made by then-President Donald Trump and his allies.
The Aug. 8 indictment of Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate and two other executives concerns a geographically distant matter: Smartmatic’s efforts to get work in the Philippines between 2015 and 2018.