Judge Slams Nick Denton, Rules Hulk Hogan Can Start Seizing Assets from Gawker CEO

Hulk Hogan, whose given name is Terry Bollea, testifies in court on Tuesday, March 8, 2016
John Pendygraft/Tampa Bay Times via AP, Pool

Former wrestling champion Hulk Hogan is allowed to start seizing assets from Gawker CEO Nick Denton after a judge ruled that Denton had lied to the court about the value of his company.

“Mr Denton… misled this court in connection with [his] pledge of Gawker Media Group, Inc. stock by concealing material information about the value of that stock which a reasonable person, under the circumstances, should have disclosed,” declared Judge Pamela Campbell.

“These are all material facts affecting the value of the stock Mr. Denton and Mr. Daulerio pledged,” she explained. “The integrity of the civil litigation process depends on truthful disclosure of facts. Revealing only some of the facts does not constitute truthful disclosure.”

Denton allegedly stated that his 30 percent stake in Gawker was worth around $81 million, despite the fact that the stake was actually worth just under $30 million.

Because Denton did not have the $50 million bond owed to Hogan after the lengthy court case surrounding Hogan’s sex tape, Judge Campbell agreed to accept Denton’s stock in the company instead. This deal was accepted based on the amount of money Denton claimed the stock to be worth.

Hogan was awarded $140 million by the courts in March after Gawker posted a clip of a sex tape featuring Hogan without his permission.

“I have to say that I think the court really got this one wrong,” said Denton on the judge’s decision. “The $81 million company valuation the court relied on was Hogan’s valuation. We told the court they did not know what the company’s shares would be worth… There was no misrepresentation.”

Hogan’s lawyer, David Houston, claimed they will do everything in their power to enforce the judgement against Denton.

Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.

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