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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Trader Says HarperCollins Book Defamed Him

HOUSTON (CN) - An energy trader claims HarperCollins defamed him by taking his quotes out of context in Leah Goodman's book "The Asylum: The Renegades Who Hijacked The World's Oil Market."

William Perkins sued HarperCollins Publishers and Goodman, in Harris County Court.

Perkins describes himself as a longtime energy trader who has made millions for his investors. He says Goodman first interviewed him for a story in the magazine AR+Alpha, which covers institutional investing and hedge funds.

"When this article was released, it had significant factual errors and misquotes attributed to Perkins," according to the complaint. "Perkins immediately complained to and made this known to Goodman and her publisher at AR+Alpha, and requested that she correct or remove factual inaccuracies. Goodman did nothing to correct the record."

Then HarperCollins published Goodman's book, "The Asylum." Perkins objects to quotes attributed to him on pages 147 and 148.

"The actions described on these pages discuss significant illegal and unethical conduct by traders at NYMEX. The inter-delineation of Perkin's quotes cause the reader to understand that Perkins himself was involved in such conduct. Neither these pages, unsupported by the facts, nor any other portion of the book places these quotes in context, or otherwise explains that Perkins was not involved in such conduct," Perkins says in his complaint.

NYMEX is the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest commodity futures exchange.

Perkins says the statements "injure Perkins' personal and business reputation, as well as the fact they are inter-delineated with illegal conduct, sexual misconduct and unethical behavior, and thereby expose Perkins to contempt or ridicule, financial injury, and impeach his honesty, integrity, virtue and reputation in the business community."

He seeks punitive damages for defamation. Perkins claims the statements in the book "libel him by way of the entirety of the book including but not limited to innuendo and implication when the reader is exposed to the book as a whole and the quotes of Perkins related to the NYMEX."

He is represented by Pete Patterson.

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