Attorneys began selecting a jury Monday for a trial involving the former CEO of Parler, an app founded as a conservative-friendly alternative to Twitter.
The case involves high-profile political figures, including now-Vice President J.D. Vance and former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. It stems from a suit filed in 2021 by John Matze, who previously led the company, alleging that he was improperly forced out.
Parler, which was launched in 2018 in Henderson, was linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and events at issue in the lawsuit that led to the current trial involve that turbulent time. It was removed from the Apple App Store on Jan. 9, 2021, and on Jan. 11, 2021, Amazon pulled Parler from its hosting service.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, in 2021 asked the FBI to investigate the app’s connection to the attack and claimed that many of those involved used it.
Bongino, a defendant in the case who served as deputy director of the FBI years later, at one point owned 7.5 percent of Parler. Attorneys for Matze have said that Vance — who is not a defendant — was discussed as a potential investor.
Chris Reeder, an attorney for an additional defendant, said he expects Bongino to testify at trial and Vance not to do so.
Matze’s lawyers have alleged in the lawsuit that the defendants conspired to “steal” his share of the app.
“Matze served as CEO from Parler’s creation and until January 2021, when he was abruptly ousted in violation of the law and public policy for endeavoring to preserve Parler’s commitment to free expression while combating any misuse by violent extremists and domestic terrorists in the wake of the January 6, 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol,” his 2021 complaint said. “Rather than protect Parler, its other owner, Rebekah Mercer, sought to co-opt it as a symbol or as the ‘tip of the spear’ for her brand of conservatism, and plotted to force Matze out as CEO, Manager, and Member, and steal his forty percent (40%) ownership interest.”
Mercer, a prominent right-wing donor, has denied those claims. Her lawyers have also attacked Matze, stating that the case involves “a dispute between a former CEO and various stakeholders in the business he ran into the ground.”
Aggressive litigation has continued over the last five years.
A paper copy of the docket sheet in the case is 175 pages long, with 1,125 entries. So great was the sea of attorneys in District Judge Maria Gall’s courtroom Monday that some had to sit at a folding table crammed into a corner. The trial may stretch into late September.
Earlier this summer, District Judge Mark Denton granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on Matze’s conversion claim, essentially an allegation that they wrongly exerted control over his property, but allowed a conspiracy to commit conversion claim and other allegations to stand.
“In order to prove a legal conspiracy, you have to prove an agreement for an unlawful purpose to harm the plaintiff,” said Reeder, who represents defendant Jeffrey Wernick, a Parler consultant and executive. “And they have basically thrown basically everybody into this conspiracy theory.”
He added: “There was never an intent to harm Mr. Matze. There was an intent to protect Parler in a horrible time. Because you got to remember, while all this is going on, they’re trying to get Parler back up on the Internet because they went literally from 15 million users to zero.”
Parler is back online now, but Reeder said it is under different ownership.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@review-journal.com.
