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A Ditch investigation into how Dublin investment firm Elkstone and its chief executive Alan Merriman coordinated a $500,000 investment in a deal involving Jeffrey Epstein was removed from Google search worldwide after a bogus copyright complaint.
The February article reported that Merriman, who co-founded Elkstone in 2011 but stepped down as CEO this year, helped arrange German entrepreneur Nicole Junkermann’s investment in Reporty Homeland Security. Former Israel Defense Forces officers founded the company which is backed by ex-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.
Leaked emails showed Merriman emailing Barak saying, “Let me know if we can help here” and being told to coordinate with Epstein’s lawyer.
Junkermann’s Montilla International Corporation signed the investment agreement in February 2016, days after Epstein had taken a 50 percent stake in the company.
A spokesperson for Elkstone said the firm “had no relationship with Jeffrey Epstein”.
After The Ditch challenged the removal Google recognised the complaint was vexatious and restored the story to its listings.
A word-for-word copy of The Ditch’s investigation
The complaint that led to the article’s removal was filed with Google on 10 July, according to a notice published by the Lumen database.
It named an anonymous Tumblr blog as the original work and accused The Ditch of copying it.
The Tumblr post is a word-for-word copy of The Ditch’s investigation but with every reference to The Ditch removed.
It carries a displayed publication date of 3 February, one day before The Ditch published the original on 4 February. Tumblr allows its users to backdate posts.
The blog, which posts under the name @diarionewsextra, uses a default avatar and has no followers, likes or shares.
The Lumen notice redacts the complainant’s name but shows they are based in Spain.
Google strips reported pages from its global index upon receiving such complaints before checking whether the reports are true, leaving the publisher to file a counter-notice to have the page restored.
There is no suggestion that Elkstone, Reporty Homeland Security (Carbyne), Merriman, Junkermann or Barak were involved in the copyright complaint.
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