Racehorse coach Bob Baffert is suing two New Jersey gamblers he accuses of threatening, extorting, and defaming him through social media and textual content messaging.
Bob Baffert, above, claims the mysterious video defendants declare to have of their possession has been “deceptively edited to forged him and his employees in a false gentle.” (Picture: USA As we speak)
In a federal lawsuit filed in San Diego Wednesday, the six-time Kentucky Derby winner alleges that Justin Wunderler and Daniel DiCorcia “have engaged in an escalating sample of illegal and threatening conduct directed particularly at Baffert and his household.”
They’ve additionally “urged others to have interaction in violent conduct in the direction of Baffert and his household, baselessly accused Baffert of felony conduct, and tried to extort Baffert and his household below threats to his enterprise, fame, and occupational license,” in response to the lawsuit.
The 2 males every have 1000’s of followers on X, the platform previously often known as Twitter, below the @SwiftHitter (Wunderler) and @barshoelife (DiCorcia) accounts.
Since early September, they’ve publicly claimed to be in possession of two damning movies, which, of their phrases, “will finish Baffert,” and which they declare to have handed to an unnamed reporter.
Kentucky Derby Scandal
Wunderler and DiCorcia’s public allegations towards Baffert relate to the 2021 Kentucky Derby doping scandal. After successful the race, Baffert-trained Medina Spirit failed a drug take a look at, and Baffert was suspended from racing at Churchill Downs.
The 70-year-old categorically denies doping, and claims the controversy arose as a result of Medina Spirit was being handled with a topical ointment for a rash that brought about betamethasone to indicate up within the take a look at.
Wunderler is a plaintiff in a federal civil lawsuit towards Baffert that claims the drug scandal brought about him to lose playing income.
The Kentucky Derby controversy deepened when Medina Spirit died of a coronary heart assault six months after the race. Since 2000, a minimum of 74 different horses from Baffert’s steady have died.
Baffert’s attorneys state within the lawsuit that they don’t know the total content material of the movies. However they imagine they’ve been “deceptively edited to forged Baffert and his employees in a false gentle with the precise intent of producing a scandal, whereas the total context and character of the video would affirmatively refute such characterization.”
Money for Clips
On September 7, Wunderler despatched a textual content message to a 3rd occasion, whom he requested to ahead to Baffert’s representatives, and which was in the end obtained by Baffert’s spouse, in response to the lawsuit.
My lawyer now has movies,” it acknowledged. “He like [sic] to succeed in out to Baffert’s attorneys. He’s going to incorporate in message/electronic mail two clips of the video. Fee for clips to be despatched to my PayPal … It’s $1K for these two clips. My lawyer will go via this along with his lawyer. If cost is distributed, clips, movies can be despatched by tomorrow.”
Within the lead-up to the Belmont Stakes in New York, Wunderler urged his social media followers to carry harmful objects to the race to hurl at Baffert and his household. Shortly after, he posted a picture of Baffert’s home and claimed he “slaughters horses on nationwide TV.”
In a direct message on X to The San Diego Union-Tribune on Wednesday, Wunderler mentioned: “By no means requested for cash from Bob Baffert. I wish to do what’s greatest for horse racing.
“Bob Baffert has continued to kill horses,” he alleged.
