Investor sues Chuck Johnson for ‘falsely presenting ... as intelligence agent’ in alleged scheme
A startling new lawsuit alleges that a conservative media figure and notorious Twitter troll, Chuck Johnson, and a partner, “falsely present themselves as intelligence agents or assets of U.S. government agencies” to pressure companies into doing business with…
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A startling new lawsuit alleges that a conservative media figure and notorious Twitter troll, Chuck Johnson, and a partner, “falsely present themselves as intelligence agents or assets of U.S. government agencies” to pressure companies into doing business with them.
On Wednesday, Point Bridge Capital filed a civil racketeering lawsuit in Federal district court in Texas against Johnson, alleging that after Johnson invested in one of Point Bridge’s companies, he and a business partner began pressuring Point Bridge founder Hal Lambert to take a side in a dispute between Johnson and the facial recognition company Clearview AI, which Point Bridge invests in. The lawsuit alleges that Johnson threatened government retaliation if Lambert failed to do so. Point Bridge is seeking damages for breach of contract, and restrictions around his business activities and what it described as his “criminal schemes.”
“Charles Johnson is running a fraud and extortion scheme under which he and his RICO co-conspirator, Gator Greenwill, falsely present themselves as intelligence agents or assets of U.S. government agencies. Johnson and Greenwill seek investments in upstart technology companies operating in the defense and intelligence sectors, which heavily rely on government contracts.
If a company or investor doesn’t give in to their demands for equity or favorable investment terms, Johnson and Greenwill threaten to sabotage the companies’ contracts or funding under the guise of their false claims to be government agents. Johnson has wrongfully succeeded in profiting from and gaining interests in these cutting-edge technology companies using this shakedown scheme,” the filing said.
In an email on Wednesday, Johnson told Semafor that it was the “first I’m hearing of a lawsuit from Mr. Lambert,” but that he was looking forward to the legal discovery process “should it come to that.”
While far from a mainstream conservative media presence, Johnson is a well-known character in online politics circles, having made a name for himself as a belligerent online political journalist with views that ranged from conservative and libertarian to outright conspiratorial. His inflammatory and at times incorrect statements about news and historical events, including raising doubts about the Holocaust, drew wide attention almost a decade ago. Even after being thrown off Twitter in 2015, he remained well-connected among figures in conservative politics and the donor class. (Ohio Sen.
JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, also recently seemed to regret his years-long correspondence with Johnson, which the conservative internet troll shared with the Washington Post.)
It was through these connections that Johnson met Lambert.
The lawsuit alleges that Johnson met Lambert in 2016 when Johnson contacted him with “an unsolicited offer to help raise money for a political candidate.” In late 2020, Point Bridge accepted a cash investment from Johnson in exchange for a minority stake in a special-purpose investment vehicle for the satellite imaging company Umbra Space.
Johnson and Lambert were also connected through another company, facial recognition service Clearview AI. Lambert was a major investor in Clearview AI and a member of its board. Johnson had been involved with an early facial recognition software acquired by Clearview AI, resulting in a sales commission and a stake in the company.
But after Johnson invested in a Point Bridge company focused on Umbra Space, Johnson and Greenwill began to simultaneously pressure Point Bridge about both Umbra Space and Clearview AI’s business, the filing alleges.
A year after making the investment, Johnson demanded $100 million in Umbra shares, the lawsuit alleged. When he was rebuffed, it said, he told Umbra executive Gabe Dominicello that he was “with the Defense Department,” and would ensure Umbra secured no government contracts, destroying the company. In 2023, he asked Point Bridge for money, emailing Lambert, a link to a tweet thread about his involvement as an FBI informant. “This might also help you do the right thing,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Johnson was in a dispute with Clearview after the company revoked his access to the application, and was pressuring the company to do a deal with another company, Securiport, which would result in a commission for Johnson, the lawsuit alleged.
According to the lawsuit, Johnson suggested to Lambert and the founders of Clearview that if they did not agree to a deal with Securiport, Johnson and Greenwill would convince intelligence agencies to retaliate against them and Clearview. The lawsuit said that at various dinners since 2020, both Johnson and Greenwill presented Greenwill as having a CIA affiliation, saying he could help with raising funds and government contracting.