Judge Junks Bankruptcy Protection For Right-Wing Gateway Pundit

A federal judge threw out a bankruptcy case filed by The Gateway Pundit, finding that the far-right conspiracy site was seeking bankruptcy protections in “bad faith” to avoid costly defamation lawsuits stemming from its publication of 2020 election lies, Marshall Cohen reported for CNN.

The Gateway Pundit founder and publisher, Jim Hoft I Photo: Lee Stranahan Flickr

The ruling from US Bankruptcy Judge Mindy Mora means the defamation cases will move forward.

Two Georgia election workers and a former Dominion Voting Systems executive sued the outlet over its false claims that they rigged the 2020 results. The Gateway Pundit denies wrongdoing and said those cases forced them into bankruptcy, but the judge concluded it was trying to exploit the bankruptcy system in “bad faith.”

The Gateway Pundit “remains both balance sheet and cash flow solvent,” Mora wrote in her ruling.

“There is no present financial distress, no looming foreclosure sale, no prospect of a market crash. There are only the defamation cases in which The Gateway Pundit must defend itself. That’s not a basis for bankruptcy relief; it’s the justice system in operation.”

The immediate impact of the ruling means two major defamation cases against the fringe website and its founder Jim Hoft can move forward in Missouri and Colorado state courts, Oliver Darcy and Tierney Sneed also reported for CNN.