An alleged bikie leader has sued one of Australia's largest media companies, claiming reports he was a fugitive secretly controlling the nation's billion-dollar drug trade caused him distress and embarrassment.
News Corp is facing a lawsuit in the Federal Court over an eight-month "campaign" alleged to have caused serious reputational harm to its target, Angelo Pandeli, who outlets identified as the Australian head of the Hells Angels.
The reports were defamatory, his claim said, because Mr Pandeli was falsely painted as a fugitive who seized control of Australia's illegal drug trade in 2023 and ran drug labs and warehouses in the notorious Golden Triangle region in Southeast Asia.
The lawsuit seeks damages over 17 articles, four videos and the Cocaine Inc podcast.
"Pandeli has been gravely injured in his personal reputation and has suffered and will continue to suffer substantial hurt, distress and embarrassment," the court documents said.
The case is being headed by high-profile defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, who has represented Liberal MP Moira Deeming, journalist Lisa Wilkinson and actor Geoffrey Rush.
Reports that Mr Pandeli was the country's "number-one cocaine kingpin" who moved tons of illegal drugs after banding together with the billionaire Kinahan Irish crime cartel were false, his lawsuit said.
These articles were published in The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and Advertiser between January and September 2024.
The "ongoing repeated, unjustified and co-ordinated campaign" used sensationalist language, gratuitously named Mr Pandeli's wife, included a pixelated photo of his children and made no reasonable attempt to get his version of events, court documents said.
Mr Pandeli was born in South Australia but moved to Sydney, where he lived from 2004 to 2017, according to court documents.
After that, he lived with his family in Dubai until being deported to Sydney in September 2024.
He is not facing any criminal charges.
Mr Pandeli's solicitor Paul McGirr and News Corp, which is yet to file a defence to the claim, declined to comment on the case.
