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Between Clare Locke & A Hard Place

The ultrawealthy are feeling emboldened to file lawsuits against journalists and their publishers, perhaps inspired by Donald Trump’s giddy disregard for a free press. In his new book, ‘Murder the Truth,’ David Enrich forecasts a dangerous endgame.

libby locke
Libby Locke questioned whether Enrich was actually working on a piece about Clare Locke and accused him of engaging in “improper and unethical” behavior by using the threat of publishing an article about the firm in the paper as a way “to coerce engagement [with Clare Locke] for his book.” Photo: Tribune Content Agency LLC / Alamy Stock Photo
William D. Cohan
March 12, 2025

A year ago, as was reported on incessantly at the time, the hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman waged a jihad to try to strong-arm Business Insider into removing a pair of articles about his wife, Neri Oxman, that alleged she had plagiarized portions of her thesis when she was a doctoral student at M.I.T. In February 2024, Ackman hired Clare Locke, one of the most aggressive law firms in the business of suing journalists for defamation or libel, to go after the publication. In short order, the firm authored a 72-page letter threatening legal action against Business Insider, which is owned by Axel Springer, the German media conglomerate. I’m told that settlement discussions continue to drag on without resolution; the articles about Oxman remain on the Business Insider website.