ABC News’s frustrations over a bizarre, years-long battle with Gregory Slate, a litigious freelance investigative reporter, came to a head this month, when Nathan Siegel, the network’s counsel, got into a physical tug-of-war with Mr. Slate during a deposition hearing. It began when Mr. Siegel handed Mr. Slate, who is representing himself, a document he had requested. Then Mr. Siegel suddenly remembered it had been printed on both sides and had confidential information on the back.
The copyright infringement suit is now in the US District Court in D.C., but it concerns undercover footage of cops drunk on duty in Chicago and witnesses deposed everywhere from Tallahassee to New York, including anchor Elizabeth Vargas.
Mr. Slate claims to have obtained the bad cop tape for a story pitched individually to 20/20 producer Glenn Ruppel in 2007, with the understanding it was worth six figures, although that piece eventually fell through. After bits of the Chicago footage aired in May 2008 in entirely different segment, Mr. Slate cried foul. ABC contends they have paid for the work via Mr. Slate’s former associate Diop Kamau, a shady former cop and police abuse expert.
As if it weren’t hard enough to win a copyright infringement case pro se, the suit has brought a cast of seedy characters, not all of whom have been contracted by ABC News, out of the woodwork.
In 2009, Mr. Slate obtained a restraining order against Mr. Kamau, whom he alleges threatened to burn his house down and cause his family bodily harm after becoming aware of the impending lawsuit. Mr. Kamau also allegedly published websites threatening Mr. Slate (and featuring copyrighted ABC materials). There is a warrant for his arrest for contempt of court in Washington D.C.
In September, a private investigator affiliated with Mr. Kamau, Greg Miller, allegedly accosted Mr. Slate at home, shoving Mr. Slate and screaming “Drop that fucking lawsuit against ABC!” before fleeing. Mr. Miller was arrested and given a citation for simple assault, but the charges were later dropped.
ABC News does not comment on pending litigation.
Ms. Vargas, who anchored the episode which aired Mr. Slate’s footage, recently filed an affidavit claiming total ignorance of the segment or its means of production.
Lucky her.
Follow Kat Stoeffel via RSS.
haha. This is awesome (and yet sad). I know Greg. I recently became acquainted with him at an International Human Rights Law symposium. He has a brilliant mind and a good heart. And, it would appear, he appreciates fighting for justice — especially his own. From I understand of this, someone at ABC with a shred of morality should get a hold of this case and order their legal department to end it satisfactorily with Mr. Slate. Their conduct thus far, as I understand it, is disgraceful.
My Name Is Diop Kamau. I am the “shady private investigator,” mentioned in this story. The writer Kat, did not contact me or interview me for this piece, nor did she properly vet the information supplied by Greg Slate. This post by Mr. Slate is a violation of a standing restraining order. More importantly, it has a number of inaccuracies that any decent journalist could have looked up to get the facts right. If you actually follow the ABC litigation which you can on pacer you will find that Mr. Slate is losing this case. His demand for a 100,000 payday from ABC is not going to happen because his case is built on a fraud.
The so-called case of a private investigator I hired to harass Greg Slate is also a fraud. If the reporter had checked the court records she would find that the case against Greg Miller was thrown out of court after they learned Greg Slate had committed fraud against ABC. He has been stalking my family for three years relentlessly. His goal has been to manipulate ABC into a settlement by stalking witnesses and attorneys involved in the case. The author of this piece has been negligent in her due diligence and she will be held accountable for the mistakes in this article.
Freelance producer? One more thing you got wrong Kat. Greg Slate has never produced anything. I am waiting for your call.
Freelance producer? One more thing you got wrong Kat. Greg Slate has never produced anything. I am waiting for your call.