Court upholds $52M defamation judgment against ‘Guyanese Critic’

The High Court has ruled against social media commentator Mikhail Rodrigues, widely known as “Guyanese Critic”, upholding a $52 million defamation judgment in favour of businessmen Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed.

The decision was handed down on Monday by Justice Nigel Niles, who also reaffirmed an injunction barring Rodrigues and his media entity, They Break News Inc., from making further defamatory statements against the Mohameds.

Rodrigues had sought to overturn both the financial judgment and the injunction, but the court dismissed his applications.

In addition to reaffirming the ruling, Justice Niles ordered Rodrigues to pay $75,000 in costs to each of the Mohameds for his failed appeal. The judge also found that Rodrigues and his company provided “woefully inadequate” explanations in their application to have the original judgment set aside, failing to meet the legal standard required for reconsideration.

The default judgment, initially granted in July 2024, ordered Rodrigues to compensate the Mohameds for defamation, totaling $52 million. The court had also issued multiple injunctions, ensuring that Rodrigues and They Break News Inc. would be legally restrained from making further defamatory claims against the businessmen.

The case stemmed from a series of statements Rodrigues made on his social media platform in February and March 2024. The Mohameds successfully argued that the statements were false, damaging, and deliberately aimed at tarnishing their reputations.