Defamation of Character

[richito]

California. Some online friends have seemingly turned against me on a mission to discredit me and ruin my business and personal life. I have a fansite for an entertainer. Two or three people have coordinated an effort to have me investigated, placed in jail, ruin my business, and come between the parenting relationship of my ex and I. They are attempting to shut down all of my business relationships by claiming I am a stalker, spreading email computer viruses, and a scam artist. Unfortunately, they are very charismatic so their mischaracterizations of me are usually taken at face value, either as true, or just enough for people to be suspicious and back off from contact with me.
It's clear they will not stop until they concoct a story which may get me wrongly imprisoned. They have also gone to the parents of the entertainer (the one my site is based on), and members of management, and suggested they seek a restraining order against me. They've managed to get me banned from certain sites in which I was conducting business. And have threatened I should close down my websites or else they will spend all the money they need to "take me down." Do I have any recourse?

 

[stephenk]

"Some online friends have seemingly turned against me on a mission to discredit me and ruin my business and personal life."

Why?

 

[richito]

Good question

"Some online friends have seemingly turned against me on a mission to discredit me and ruin my business and personal life."

Why?

That's a very good question. These people live in the same state as the parents of the entertainer. In my verbiage and in my praising the entertainer, somewhere along the line, these people seem to have gotten the idea that I am obsessed. Mind you, these same people are constantly singing the praises, too. But, that's beside the point. They've taken tremendous leaps of judgement, in error, and have leap-frogged to the notion that I am a threat and a stalker. Whether they truly believe their own argument is questionable, but that is one of the allegations they are using as a tool to achieve my downfall. Why, they have changed their colors is hard to fully understand. There was no dramatic point or incident which would dictate the change in behavior. Just last week, they heard about a hurricane relief fundraiser I was coordinating. They immediately emailed me and threatened to have friends in government investigate me, to contact FTC, IRS, FOX, CNN, etc, etc. They fabricated lies to site owners and spread rumors to the point I had to cancel the fundraiser due to everyone "running for the hills." In other words, contact with me, given the suspicions these people raised, became to much of a risk for some. So, you see, they are the online equivalent of someone standing on a sidewalk as you walk forward and continually leaping in front to impede forward progress.