Oshri tried to stop the release of Vargas’s series exposing her alleged participation in a $370M PPE scheme
In June 2021, Investor News reporter Aitana Vargas was served with court papers to stop the release of her months-long investigative series exposing entrepreneur Hadari Oshri’s participation in an alleged multimillion-dollar PPE scam with conman Marc Lubaszka.
In September 2021, Oshri’s meritless legal effort to silence Vargas’s investigative series was thrown out by a Los Angeles judge, and Oshri will have to pay the journalist’s legal fees as ordered by California’s powerful anti-SLAPP statute, which protects First Amendment rights.
But things weren’t quite over for the American-Israeli businesswoman: The following months saw the release of Vargas’s work (more to come). And this week, the reporter’s in-depth series exposing Oshri’s and Marc Lubaszka’s alleged COVID-19 scams has been nominated for an LA Press Club award.
“This nomination is a step in the right direction, but it falls way short of expectations for Oshri’s and Lubaszka’s victims, who are still demanding accountability. They want law enforcement to resolve their years-long grievances,” the journalist said.
“Leslie Lawson, one of Lubaszka’s victims, just told me that all she wants is for her $215,000 IRA to be returned. This is a good time for law enforcement to reach out again to their many victims across the US.”
Hadari Oshri’s frivolous case delayed the release of Vargas’s exposé
Vargas’s multi-part investigative series, “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime,” was first released in May 2021. But Oshri’s frivolous case against the reporter delayed the release of the next installments several months.
In Oshri’s non-sense petition against the award-winning correspondent, the Israeli accused the reporter of being a “desperate,” “very dangerous woman” and “a corrupted reporter” without any proof. Oshri also referred to the journalist as “Miss Dicks” (Miss Vergas) and “My Dicks” (Mis Vergas) and fabricated a baseless theory that didn’t fly with the court.
“Oshri’s and her attorneys’ arguments sounded like a low-budget Hallmark movie script,” the reporter said. “Their arguments were simply pathetic. This is not about assigning symbolism to specific calendar dates. This is about widespread accusations of fraud, and there’s evidence of alleged fraud all over the place.”
Vargas, who is represented by the law offices of Michael Creamer in her anti-SLAPP case against Oshri, is still waiting for the judge to enter a $23,000 legal fees judgment against the entrepreneur for filing a meritless case.
Vargas was pressured by Hadari Oshri’s attorney, John Tamborelli, into quitting her investigative series
According to court documents, during 2021, the Spaniard was pressured multiple times into quitting her investigative work. Investor News had access to a cease-and-desist email that Oshri’s former attorney, John Tamborelli, sent her in February 2021 demanding that she stop reaching out and talking to sources. The email also threatened legal action against the reporter and one of her sources did they fail to comply.
Tamborelli was following orders from Oshri, whose email featured some memorable statements to the reporter and her source:
“You (Aitana) are putting your hands in places that is not belong to you !!!!!
You (Aitana) GOT to stop !!!!!
Also you you cucumber !!”
In a second email that Oshri sent to Vargas and her source the same day, the entrepreneur stated:
“This is officially !!! Attaching my new business as an opportunity what the fuck you contacting this guy Robert 80 years old Man that is doing my taxes !!!
You are crossing all the lines
Where should I serve your lawsuit Ariana
And Qucomber !!”
The journalist didn’t reply to any emails that Oshri and Tamborelli sent that day.
Exclusive documents obtained by this outlet also show that in June 2021, Tamborelli wanted one of Vargas’s sources (Fergal Furlong) to instruct her to remove all the information related to Oshri or Tamborelli and any articles mentioning Tamborelli, Oshri and Lubaszka, including the first part of Vargas’s exposé, which gave a voice to the victims of one of Lubaszka’s prior gold schemes for which he was never prosecuted by law enforcement nearly a decade ago.
The reporter took to social media to announce that she was not a party to the settlement agreement and would not be taking down any content. About two weeks later, Oshri filed against Vargas.
In response to Tamborelli’s cease-and-desist email and continued demands, the National Writers Union (NWU) sent him a letter demanding that he stop all intimidation attempts towards the female reporter.
“Hadari Oshri cornered me in every single possible way she knew how. Yet she failed,” Vargas said. “Fear tactics only work for so long, don’t they?”
Read the notice of ruling on the anti-SLAPP motion here.
**This story is being updated as more information becomes available.
Read here Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV of “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime.”
Send your news tips to: aitana_investigations@protonmail.com. All emails are checked for legitimacy, malware and malicious scripts and reported to law enforcement if necessary.
Have you been SLAPPED? Contact the newsroom at info@investornews.io and share your story with us.
RELATED COVERAGE
Read 2019 court case against Hadari Oshri exposes her dodgy, aggressive legal maneuvers.
Read Hadari Oshri’s losses mount up as she fails again to silence her victims.
Read Hadari Oshri loses anti-SLAPP court battle against journalist Aitana Vargas.
Read The Legal Bullies Club – The SLAPPers: Featuring Hadari Oshri.
Read Hadari Oshri sued for copyright infringement in 2017.
Read Hadari Oshri deactivates LinkedIn account following PPE exposé.
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