Home »  Browse News Briefs »  Exonerated Internet guru sues Web site for defamation

so-called Internet psychic, who was acquitted of sex abuse charges in Washington County Circuit Court in May 2007, is suing a French Web site for defamation in Portland's U.S. District Court.

Eric J. Pepin, 40, the founder of the online company Higher Balance Institute, is suing Laura Knight-Jadczyk, who publishes the blog "Signs of the Times," at www.SOTT.net.

Pepin was tried on criminal abuse charges for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old male employee.

In a bench trial, Judge Steven A. Price said the prosecution failed to prove the man, now 20, was underage at the time.

Pepin is seeking approximately $4.5 million in damages. In the suit filed by Bullivant Houser Bailey PC, Portland, HBI alleges the operators of SOTT.net "published false and defamatory statements" beginning in November 2007, including allegations HBI is a "front for pedophilia."

The lawsuit says the Web site's statements subject HBI to hatred, contempt and ridicule and tend to diminish the esteem, respect, goodwill and confidence it had established in the community. The lawsuit also seeks damages for lost business.

It alleges the defendants published statements with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for their truth.

Higher Balance Institute promises spiritual awakening through vitamins, meditation and CDs the company sells on the Internet. HBI used to be in Aloha, but now operates out of Cedar Mill.

HBI markets metaphysical products and claims to sell "the world's most advanced sixth sense meditation" program and a dietary supplement, "Magneurol6-S." that is guaranteed to make the consumer an "instant telepath." Pepin claims that users of his "psychic pill" find that "extended wireless phone use can cause discomfort." Consequently, they suggest "limiting the use of cell phones."

SOTT.net describes itself as an international, user-driven alternative news site with volunteer editorial staffing around the globe. Quantum Future Group Inc., a California nonprofit created by Knight-Jadczyk and her mathematician-physicist husband, Arkadiusz Jadczyk, is also named in the suit.

"This is an attack on freedom of speech, plain and simple. The issues SOTT.net are concerned with - the pathology of power and conspiracies among those in power - are specifically targeted in the suit," Knight-Jadczyk said in a statement. "A victory for Pepin, considering the international nature of this suit, would therefore set a dangerous precedent in U.S. courts and carry serious implications for Internet freedom of speech and ultimately civil liberties everywhere."

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