LOS ANGELES (CN) - A blogger defamed the CEO of body building supplement maker Thermolife International as a "'rat'" who helped investigators bring down the distributor of illegal steroids to baseball player Barry Bonds and other athletes, the CEO claims in a $4 million lawsuit.
Ron Kramer sued John Romano, a U.S. citizen who lives in Mexico, on Aug. 29 in Federal Court. He seeks damages for defamation, aiding and abetting defamation, conspiracy and false light.
The 21-page complaint, with 113 pages of attachments, makes several allegations about Romano's bodybuilding blog, romanoroberts.com.mx.
In March this year, a New Jersey federal judge ordered non-party Anthony Connors, another writer on Romano's website, to stop falsely claiming that Kramer had aided an investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), according to Kramer's lawsuit.
The BALCO scandal exploded after authorities accused the lab of supplying an illegal steroid known as "The Clear" to baseball player Barry Bonds and Olympians Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones.
Romano's blog claimed several times that Kramer had helped investigators bring down BALCO after authorities raided the lab in 2003, Kramer says in the complaint.
In a March 26 post, "The Dirty on Ron Kramer of Thermolife," Romano posted a picture of Kramer and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, defaming Kramer as a "'steroid dealing informant,'" the lawsuit states.
In addition, Romano implied on the blog that Kramer has erectile dysfunction, that he is a "danger to children," and that he and Thermolife are patent trolls, the lawsuit states.
Kramer seeks $4 million in damages.
He is represented by Eric Hull with Kercsmar & Feltus, of Scottsdale, Ariz.
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