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Trump sues NYT, Penguin for defamation, seeks $15 billion

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Lawsuit claims harm to Trump's business, personal

reputation

(Updates with details of Trump court action)

By Gursimran Mehar and Shivani Tanna

Sept 15 (Reuters) -

U.S. President Donald Trump sued the New York Times ( NYT ), four of

its reporters, and publisher Penguin Random House for at least

$15 billion on Monday, claiming defamation and libel, and citing

reputational damage, a Florida court filing showed.

Trump's suit cites a series of

New York Times ( NYT ) articles

, one an editorial prior to the 2024 presidential election,

which said he was unfit for office, and a 2024 book published by

Penguin titled "Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His

Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success".

"Defendants maliciously published the Book and the Articles

knowing that these publications were filled with repugnant

distortions and fabrications about President Trump," according

to the filing lodged on Monday in the U.S. District Court,

Middle District Florida.

The New York Times ( NYT ) and Penguin did not immediately respond

to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

The publications have harmed Trump's business and personal

reputation, thereby causing massive economic damage to his brand

value and significant damage to his future financial prospects,

Trump's lawyers said in the filing.

"The harm to the value of TMTG (Trump Media and Technology

Group ( DJT )) stock is one example of how the Defendants' defamation

has injured President Trump," said his lawyers, citing "a

precipitous decline in the stock price."

TMTG stock has been under pressure in recent months

fueled by worries about the end of a so-called lock-up period

related to its stock market debut in March.

The filing comes after Trump threatened last week to sue

the New York Times ( NYT ) for its reporting on an allegedly sexually

suggestive note and drawing given to Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, died

by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019.

Trump has said he parted ways with Epstein before the

financier's legal troubles became public in 2006.

"Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion

Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times ( NYT ),"

Trump said earlier on Monday in a post on his social media

platform Truth Social.

In his post, Trump accused the paper of lying about him, his

family and businesses, as well as Republican-led movements and

ideologies such as the America First Movement, and Make America

Great Again, or MAGA.

In his second term, Trump has intensified his crackdown

against media companies. Earlier this year he sued the Wall

Street Journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, for at

least $10 billion over the newspaper's report that his name was

on a 2003 birthday greeting for Epstein.

In July, CBS parent company Paramount agreed to settle a

lawsuit filed by Trump alleging that the CBS news program "60

Minutes" deceptively edited an interview with former Vice

President Kamala Harris that the network broadcast in October.