Filing # 67515556 E-Filed 02/05/2018 02:58:19 PM. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 11™ JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA CIRCUIT CIVIL DIVISION CASE NO. Plaintiff, v JOHN DOE DEFENDANTS A THROUGH Z, Defendants / COMPLAINT Plaintiff, Tri-Source Pharma, LLC (“Tri-Source” or “Plaintiff’), hereby sues John Doe Defendants A through Z, whose true identity is currently unknown to Plaintiff, and alleges as follows INTRODUCTION This case involves cyber harassment of Tri-Source by anonymous individuals (believed to be former employees and/or business partners of Tri-Source personnel) posting through sham Twitter accounts and e-mail addresses. Beginning in December 2017, these anonymous individuals have engaged in a coordinated, targeted smear campaign designed to sully Tri- Source’s reputation and interfere with Tri-Source's relationships with its customers and business partners. Tri-Source seeks judicial intervention to identify the individuals who conducted this cyber smear and hold them accountable for the damage they have caused to Tri-SourcePARTIE: 1 Plaintiff, Tri-Source Pharma, LLC (“Plaintiff” or “Tri-Source”), is a Florida limited liability company with its principal place of business in Florida, 2, Plaintiff has made diligent inquiry and efforts to identify and locate John Doe Defendants A~Z; however, their identity at this time remains unknown, 3. Plaintiff intends to seek immediate discovery to determine the identity of the John Doe Defendants, who are expected to include at least: a, “truthbetold00,” alias of the owner of the Twitter account “@truthbetold 1989,” b. “Ken Taylor,” alias of the owner of the Twitter account “FYIGuy00;” and c. “Peter Parker,” alias of the owner of the now-deleted Gmail account thnthbetold2017@gmail. com. JURISDICTION AND VENUE 4. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to Fla. Stat, § 48.193, as the tortious conduct in this action involved internet publications directly targeted at Florida residents. 5. Venue is proper in this Court subject to Fla. Stat. § 47.011 if the John Doe Defendants are Florida residents, or, if they are not Florida residents, because this Court has personal jurisdiction over them by virtue of the intentional torts directly intended to have an effect on Tri-Source, a Florida resident, See Memick & Levy, P.A. v. Seuling, 123 So. 34 639, 642 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2013) (noting that Florida courts have personal jurisdiction over a defendant where a defendant “has committed acts with an effect in Florida such that it would anticipate being haled into Florida’s courts.”)FACTUAL ALLEGATION 6. Tri-Source is a pharmaceutical company which provides, through its affiliate NextSource Biotechnology LLC (“NextSource”), the anti-cancer drug Gleostine (also known by its generic name, lomustine). 7. NextSource generally bases the price of Gleostine on a number of factors, including product development costs, regulatory agency fees, class of product, benefit the treatment delivers to patients, and other determinants. The cost to develop and launch a single drug is just shy of $3 billion 8. Amatheon Pharmaceuticals ("Amatheon") is another division of 1 dedicated to supplying veterinary medicine Defamatory Statements by “truthbetold00” 9. On December 27, 2017, an anonymous Twitter account, “@truthbetold 1989,” using the alias “truthbetold00,” began a series of “Tweets” claiming, among other things, that Tri-Source is “a Miami company just taking advantage of sick people.” See Ex. A 10. In addition to the statement above, “truthbetold00” has cl ed that Tri-Source’s CEO, Rob DiCrisci (“DiCrisci”) raised the price of Gleostine in order to pay himself an exorbitant salary and that DiCrisci’s partners are suing him for “sexual harassment” and “greed.” Id. 11. The Tweets tagged media and government contacts including, among others, CNN, ABC News, Headline News, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the American Cancer Society. Each Tweet stated that these enti should contact the anonymous account so that they could “talk.” Id.12. The Twitter account “@truthbetold1989” was created in December 2017 and has posted exclusively inflammatory and damaging comments about Tri-Source, its affiliates, and its officers, directors, principals, and/or employees. Id. Defamatory Statements by “Ken Taylor 13. On January 2, 2018, a second anonymous Twitter account, “@FYIGuy00,” using the alias “Ken Taylor,” began a series of Tweets attacking NextSource and DiCrisci and claiming, among other things, that Tri-Source is “price gouging” cancer treatment drugs and that its CEO is “[s}tealing from the poor to give to the rich.” a. 14. “Ken Taylor” has used this sham Twitter account to Tweet incendiary statements about Tri-Source to various media outlets and political figures, including among others The Wall Street Journal, CNN, TIME, S south Florida’s local network affiliates, President Donald Trump, current Florida Governor Rick Scott, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and local State Senators Annette Taddeo and Anitere Flores, Jd. 15. “Ken Taylor” has replied to various news sources that “I have info on CEO of Next Source” and “email me for more info on CEO.” Id. 16. “Ken Taylor” has Tweeted damaging personal attacks against DiCrisci, accusing him of sexually harassing employees and misusing company money to fund improper and disreputable activities. Jd. 17. “Ken Taylor” created his Twitter account in January 2018, The account appears to have been created for the sole purpose of maligning Tri-Source, its affiliates, and its officers, directors, principals, and/or employees. 18. On December 29, 2017, an email was sent from the Gmail.com account thruthbetold2017@amail.com to the executive director of a nationwide veterinary society (the"Society"), stating that Nextsource and Amatheon should not be allowed at the Society's conference. The sender of the email added the hashtag "crooks" at the end of the email. 19. On January 3, 2018, an email was sent from the Gmail.com account thruthbetold2017@kmail.com to the Vice President of one of Tri-Source’s largest customers (“Customer”) with the subject line “Price Gouging Nextsource & Amatheon.” 20. The Customer is a leading national animal healthcare company operating in the United States and Canada, operating more than 800 animal hospitals in 43 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces. 21, The e-mail states “I would hope u dont do business with this company. Says u are affiliated with them.” 22. Furthering his attempt to steer business away from Tri-Source and Amatheon, “Peter Parker” repeats the allegations of a lawsuit filed against DiCrisci by his former business partners and tells the Customer to “go check out [the] case and email me back once u have a better understanding of the CEO and we talk more on his wrongdoi _ The Gmail account thruthbetold2017@gmail.com has since been deleted from Google’s domain 24. Prior to filing this lawsuit, Tri-Source engaged a cyber investigation firm to do a forensic investigation of the aforementioned Twitter and email accounts so that Tri-Source could determine the identity of the individuals responsible for the statements and misconduct alleged above. Despite diligent efforts, Tri-Source cannot obtain those individuals’ identity absent subpoenas issued to the relevant internet service providers. COUNT I - DEFAMATIO’ Tri-Source realleges and reaffirms the allegations set forth in paragraphs 1-24 above as if fully set forth herein25. ‘Through their acts described above, the John Doe Defendants have published false information about Tri-Source, its affiliates, and its officers. 26. The John Doe Defendants made these publications with knowledge of their falsity, or, atthe least, with negligence as to their truth or falsity 27. The John Doe Defendants’ defamatory statements have caused Tri-S damages in an amount to be determined at tril COUNT I - DEFAMATION BY IMPLICATION Tri-Source realleges and reaffirms the allegations set forth in paragraphs 1-24 above as if fully set forth herein 28. John Doe Defendants, through their actions above, have maliciously strung together unrelated publications—and suggested more will be forthcoming if individuals “talk” to them— in order to “imply the allegation of undisclosed defamatory acts.” Jews for Jesus, Ine. v Rapp, 997 So. 2d 1098, 1107 (Fla. 2008) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 566). 29. Tri-Source has been damaged by the malicious implications of the John Doe Defendants’ statements. COUNT III - LIBEL PER Si a ‘ource realleges and reaffirms the allegations set forth in paragraphs 1- 24 above as if fully set forth herein 30. John Doe Defendants’ false publications about Tri-Source, its officers, and its affiliates are such that they tend to subject Tri-Source to hatred, disgust, ridicule, contempt, or disgrace 31. Asa result of Defendant’s libelous statements, Tri-Source has suffered damages, reputational and otherwise, in an amount to be determined at trialCOUNT IV - TORTIOUS INTERFERENC! WITH CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP Tri-Source realleges and reaffirms the allegations set forth in paragraphs 1-24 above as if fully set forth herein 32. Tri-Source had a contractual relationship with the Society, the Customer, and/or their affiliates at the time John Doe Defendant “Peter Parker” sent his e-mails 33. John Doe Defendant “Peter Parker” had knowledge of Tri-Source’s relationships with the Society and the Customer. 34. John Doe Defendant “Peter Parker” intentionally and unjustifiably interfered with those relationships by sending e-mails attempting to destroy them. 35, Defendants’ actions have damaged Tri-Source’s business relations with the Society and the Customer in an amount to be determined at trial COUNT V - TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE WITH AN ADVANTAGEOUS BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP. Tri-Source realleges and reaffirms the allegations set forth in paragraphs 1-24 above as if fully set forth herein 36. Tri-Source had a business relationship with the Society, the Customer, and/or their affiliates at the time John Doe Defendant “Peter Parker” sent his e-mails 37. John Doe Defendant “Peter Parker” had knowledge of Tri-Source’s relationships with the Society and the Customer 38. John Doe Defendant “Peter Parker” intentionally and unjustifiably interfered with those relationships by sending e-mails attempting to destroy them. 39. Tri-Source’s business relations with the Society and the Customer have suffered as a result of Defendant's actions in an amount to be determined at trialPRAYER FOR RELIEF WHEREFORE, premises considered, Tri-Source respectfully requests the following relief: DATED this That, upon ascertaining the identity of the individual(s) using the pseudonyms “truthbetold00", "Ken Taylor," and "Peter Parker", Tri-Source be permitted to amend its Complaint to add them as named defendants; That the owners of the Twitter accounts relating to “truthbetold00” and “Ken Taylor,” upon identification, be enjoined from posting further defamatory Tweets about Tri-Source, its affiliates, and its officers, directors, principals, and/or employees; That Tri-Source recover its actual damages caused by Defendants’ defamatory statements; That Tri-Source recover its actual damages against John Doe Defendant “Peter Parker” for tortious interference with its contractual and business relations; ‘That Tri-Source recover its attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses in connection with this action from the John Doe Defendants, and For such other and further relief as the Court deems equitable and proper under the circumstances " day of February, 2018. Laurence S. Litow, Esq. (Fla. Bar No. 328758) BURR & FORMAN, LLP 350 E. Las Olas Blvd., Suite 1440 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 Telephone: (954) 414-6222 / Fax: (954) 414-6201 Primary Email: |slitow@burr com Secondary Email: mmassarelli@burr.com And s/Ellen T, Mathews Ellen T. Mathews, Esq. (Fla. Bar No. 122217) BURR & FORMAN, LLP 420 20th Street N, Suite 3400 Birmingham, AL 35203 ‘Telephone: (205) 458-5410 / Fax: (205) 458-5400 Primary Email: emathews@burr.com Counsel for Plaintiff 8