Websearch shows multiple online outlets reporting.
Crabgrass focus is on a single item, BusinessInsider's report (dated Sept. 13, 2023), which in turn appends a Scribd complaint copy, (filed in LA federal court 9/13/2023).
The complaint as a pdf document is online here; and speaks for itself.
Commentary on complaint detail, later.
The BI report states:
- A federal lawsuit filed by Hunter Biden accuses former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler of hacking his data.
- Ziegler denied the allegations and told Insider that he came by the data legally from Biden's laptop.
- The case opens a second front in the war
between the Bidens and the GOP. It could also impact First Amendment
protections for opposition research.
Lawyers representing Hunter Biden have filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against Garrett Ziegler, a former aide in the Trump White House who has since become a key figure in collecting and publicizing data alleged to have been obtained from one of Biden's abandoned laptops.
The suit alleges that Ziegler violated laws against hacking and fraud. It also claims that his team manipulated and altered some of the data, although it does not specify how other than redacting explicit photos that appear to show Biden naked, sometimes in the company of sex workers.
The lawsuit signals the opening of a second front in the emerging legal battle between GOP hardliners who want to impeach Biden's father, President Joe Biden, and Hunter Biden's camp, who say he is being unfairly targeted and that President Biden did nothing wrong. It could also redraw the legal boundaries around "opposition research," the longstanding practice of gathering as much derogatory information as possible on a political candidate in order to influence the outcome of an election. As media outlets have trimmed back spending on foreign bureaus and long-term investigations, they have grown increasingly reliant on tips developed by private researchers with bigger budgets and fewer ethical constraints. The Hunter Biden laptop story is only the latest product of opposition research to make headlines. Derogatory stories about the Clinton Foundation, anomalous server pings associated with a Russian bank, and the apparently mythical Donald Trump pee-tape, were all the fruits of opposition research.
Ziegler posted more than 100,000 emails from Hunter Biden's account online, along with photos and other documents. The provenance of the material continues to be debated along with the privacy implications, but the authenticity of the content has never been successfully challenged.
It appears Hunter Biden still has not publicly described any of the emails as his original and unaltered property, the complaint only vaguely refers to "data" of his claimed to have been wrongly breached - and - subjected to tampering.
BI continues:
Ziegler once served in the Trump White House under Peter Navarro, the pugilistic trade adviser who was found guilty last week of contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena requesting information about the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Ziegler himself reportedly escorted some of Trump's most pro-insurrection allies — Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell — into the White House for a December 2020 meeting. (Ziegler has disputed this.) He has backed the baseless claim that Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 election, and has reportedly accused the January 6 House select committee of being "anti-White" and "Bolsheviks."
Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When reached by Insider on Wednesday, Ziegler claimed that the 14-page lawsuit is "not worth the paper it's printed on." He denied manipulating any of the data, beyond redacting explicit material, and claimed that the metadata he had posted would prove that. He denied that any hacking had occurred. Where the lawsuit alleges that Ziegler's team hacked into "an encrypted iPhone backup," Ziegler said that they were able to access the iPhone backup through a code found on the laptop's keychain app. "Everything was contained on the laptop," he said.
Ziegler told Insider that he obtained the data "directly from someone who got the copy from the laptop shop owner." That person, Ziegler said, was Rudy Giuliani, [...] Giuliani said that the emails were derived from a laptop that Biden had abandoned at a computer repair shop in Delaware.
Numerous reports indicate that Giuliani was travelling to Ukraine during the months before the election, where he pushed the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into Hunter Biden, and solicited derogatory information about Biden from his contacts.
[...] Kevin Morris, a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer who has provided Hunter Biden with millions of dollars in financial support, and reportedly meets with him regularly to discuss legal and public relations strategies, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
THE PLEADING:
Of initial interest, Defendants are:
GARRETT ZIEGLER, an individual,
ICU, LLC, a Wyoming Limited Liability
Company d/b/a Marco Polo, and DOES
1 through 10, inclusive
Paragraphs 13 and 14, stating:
13. Defendants sued herein as Does 1 through 10, inclusive, are sued in their fictitious names and capacities as their identities have not yet been determined. Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereon alleges that each of such Defendants is responsible in some way for the acts alleged herein. Plaintiff will seek leave to amend this complaint to allege such Defendants’ true names and capacities when they have been ascertained.
14. Upon information and belief, at all times herein mentioned, each
Defendant acted individually and/or as the agent, co-conspirator, aider, abettor, joint venturer, alter ego, third-party beneficiary, employee, officer, director or representative of the other Defendants and, in doing the things hereinafter averred, acted within the course and scope of such agency, employment or conspiracy and with the consent, permission and authorization of each of the remaining Defendants. Upon information
and belief, all actions of each Defendant as averred in the claims for relief stated herein were ratified and approved by every other Defendant or their officers, directors or managing agents.
Paragraph 8 pleads a jurisdictional damages amount has been met, specifically:
8. The amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, exclusive of interest and
costs. Damages that Plaintiff has suffered and will continue to suffer as a result of the violations of the federal statute referenced above and the other claims asserted herein exceed $75,000.
The plea is damages suffered and which Plaintiff will continue to suffer, and that causation is later pled as an ongoing all encompassing collective activity, Ziegler named as a defendant, other "Doe" defendants to be ensnared as identity and role of each is "ascertained."
Pleading ongoing conspiracy can affect statute of limitations defense claims which one or more of the yet unidentified "Doe" defendants might assert. In particular, Delaware computer shop beginnings were pled as time barred in the Mac Isaac motion to dismiss (in separate litigation) discussed in earlier Crabgrass posting. If Mac Isaac is judicially recognized in this new litigation as a Doe defendant being an ongoing part of this alleged encompassing conspiracy, that would generally be independent of any response Biden makes in the other Mac Isaac litigation or how that motion is decided. (There could be collateral estoppel assertions where if you don't know what that means don't worry.)
One can wonder, is Ziegler the main target, or is counsel aiming to find specific suspected "Doe" individuals with deeper pockets and/or greater culpability, to really make a point. Starting from discovery of Ziegler, Hunter's lawyers can peel back layers of the onion.
Reading the complaint from such possible perspectives might be helpful to others in understanding where this litigation may be going, beyond what it says at the outset.
Reading the complaint shows it mentions other persons besides Ziegler, but not as yet making them parties.
Paragraphs 18 and 19:
18. According to published reports, Defendant Ziegler claims to have obtained one copy of a hard drive from what he claims was Plaintiff’s “laptop” computer incDecember 2020 from Jack Maxey, a former co-host on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast who has described himself publicly as “Hunter’s Laptop King.” In or around early 2021, Defendant Ziegler claims to have obtained another copy of a hard drive from what he claims to be Plaintiff’s “laptop” computer from an associate of Rudy
Giuliani, the former New York mayor who previously represented former President Trump. Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereon alleges that Defendant Ziegler also illegally accessed, tampered with, manipulated and copied data belonging to Plaintiff by means of a “cloud” storage and file hosting service offered by MEGA NZ.
19. Plaintiff’s data appears to have been tampered with, manipulated, altered and damaged both before Defendants received it and after it was obtained by Defendants and they began illegally accessing and tampering with it themselves. Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereon alleges that Defendants intentionally altered at least some of Plaintiff’s data and that they severely damaged Plaintiff’s data through sloppy and inept handling of the data, by disregarding forensically sound methods for data preservation and analysis, and by engaging generally in reckless, incompetent and malicious activities with respect to the data that have impaired the ability of Plaintiff and others to verify all of the data’s authenticity and to determine the precise extent of tampering, alteration and damage.
Par. 22 presents the crux of specifics alleged against Ziegler:
22. Defendant Ziegler has stated publicly that Defendants used Plaintiff’s data from what he calls Plaintiff’s “laptop” computer to create a voluminous report entitled Report on the Biden Laptop, which Defendants first published on or about October 19, 2022. In addition, in or around May 2022, Defendants used Plaintiff’s data from the claimed Plaintiff’s “laptop” computer to create what Defendant Ziegler has described as “an online searchable database of 128,000 emails found on the Biden Laptop.”
Plaintiff has never authorized or consented to any access of his data by any Defendant (or anyone working with any Defendant) at any time or for any purpose. To the contrary, Plaintiff has notified Defendants that Defendants are not authorized to accessany of his data, that they should cease doing so, and that they should return any of Plaintiff’s data in their possession to Plaintiff immediately.
The complaint is limited to 14 pages, 52 paragraphs, much of which (par. 33 onward) are in the Claims for Relief section following factual assertions.
The laptop is never admitted by Biden to be his. He admits there is data which was his, but not asserting any actual device held by others was. He asserts the integrity of his data might differ from what Ziegler posted, alleging tampering either intentionally corrupting his data, and/or ineptly inadvertently doing so.
It is not alleged whether Biden reviewed anything Ziegler put online, nor if his recollection would allow him to authenticate or repudiate any particular detail of what Ziegler posted. Ambiguity is in his favor, so far. He is adamant he did not authorize Ziegler to have access to any of his data and requested it all be returned.
Starting with Ziegler likely was a tactical choice, with "Doe" defendants in mind as possibly more at fault. Ziegler might be viewed as one who could be turned.
Crabgrass has a feeling this single filing could grow in size and scope.
_________UPDATE_________
As to things Hunter Biden would not have been privy to, but which EmptyWheel links to as possibly of interest to Hunter's lawyers; this "we shopped around our October surprise" video.
"Doe" identities might surface from things like that.
________FURTHER UPDATE_______
EmptyWheel links to another online version of the Ziegler complaint.
The "MarcoPolo" online package Ziegler is fronting for was put together by some kind of team, and the "Does" uncovered may prove an interesting bunch.
Ziegler, online per a YouTube item. There he is fairly smooth, low key.
Ziegler is unrelated to the IRS investigator/testifier, but is related to former Nixon official Ron Ziegler. His roots are in the St. Louis area, having graduated from St. Louis University [Jesuit] and started in DC as an intern for U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, IL. RawStory suggests he is a zealot, one the Biden defense team wants investigated.
He is the front person pushing this online trove of questionably obtained data.
As a young "Trump years intern" and recent college grad, a guess is somebody else's money is behind the thing Ziegler fronts. The deep pocket(s) should be learned in discovery during the course of litigation.
Ziegler's place in the widespread Republican custody pool of "laptop" data holders, that network, is likely the aim of his being the only named defendant, so far. Those who technically decrypted things, their funding, again, wlll likely be disclosed via discovery. It is a civil action, not criminal, yet if Ziegler takes the Fifth it might delay uncovering key actors. Somebody funded "Marco Polo." Missouri Republican politics has enough money around, while Trump intern status suggests others with deep pockets. Mike LIndall, for all we know so far could have been project angel.
___________FURTHER UPDATE___________
A name, from a Salon report, April of last year:
While gathering information and drafting the Navarro report, Ziegler worked with a research team that reported to Giuliani, according to Giuliani associate Michael Trimarco. A Long Island businessman with a background in finance and tech, Trimarco told far-right conspiracy theorist Ann Vandersteel in a recent video that he had been helping Giuliani analyze the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop in October 2020, and then hastily switched over to researching alleged election fraud after the election.
The Westin hotel in Arlington, Virginia, served as the initial hub for the teams collecting affidavits to support the legal challenges, Raw Story has found. Those teams promoted a fount of specious claims that would fuel the violent effort to prevent Congress from certifying the election.[...] "All of this would have fallen apart on that side of the river had it not been for [Trimarco] showing up and not just with a credit card, but trying to provide some adult supervision," Byrne said. "He's a real champion, and the MAGA crowd should know that when push came to shove, this fellow came up out of nowhere and was very valuable in helping corral all these forces and keep things from just spinning apart in the early days."
[...] The team at the Westin "did have access to Garrett at the White House, they did get tours, and they did work with Garrett extensively," Trimarco told Vandersteel. [...] Prior to the election, Ziegler said he worked on reports touting "the Trump economic record" in sectors like mining and manufacturing in swing states. Beginning around Nov. 15 — roughly the same time Powell moved her team from the Westin to the Tomotley Plantation — Ziegler said he and three other aides started helping Navarro compile reports casting doubt on the outcome of the election.
[...] In the tangled web of relationships among the operatives working to overturn the election at the Westin, Tomotley and across the country, Trimarco was responsible for making sure crucial information reached Giuliani.
[...] Trimarco comes from a politically connected family in New York. His involvement in politics long predates the effort to overturn the 2020 election. During a New York state court trial to decide a complaint brought by Trimarco against his former business partners, witnesses testified that Trimarco took part in a meeting with then-Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., in 2002 to discuss a venture that would theoretically capture and store biometric data to properly identify passengers at Long Island's MacArthur Airport. Trimarco's former partners accused him of failing to talk about their business during the meeting and instead promoting a business owned by his family.[...] In 2018, Trimarco sued Dish Network scion Chase Ergen, and he was represented by a New York City lawyer named Howard Kleinhendler.
Trimarco told Vandersteel that he was analyzing the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop for Giuliani in October 2020. Kleinhendler allowed him to come by his law office to print out pages from the device. The effort to mine the laptop for information that could damage the Biden campaign pivoted to generating baseless election fraud theories once it became apparent Trump was going to lose.
Timarco. Kleinhendler. Tied then to Ziegler. Deep Pockets with Marco Polo ties?