{"id":302058,"date":"2023-12-06T18:43:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=302058"},"modified":"2023-12-09T13:10:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T19:10:20","slug":"baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Baffert Asks for Summary Judgment in \u2018Swifthitter\u2019 Defamation Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Racehorse trainer Bob Baffert has filed a motion for a default judgment in his extortion and defamation lawsuit against two New Jersey gamblers.<\/p>\n

\"Bob
Bob Baffert, above, is suing two New Jersey social media gambling personalities who claim to have damning video evidence that would \u201cruin\u201d him. (Image: USA Today<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The federal suit alleges that Justin Wunderler and Daniel DiCorcia falsely claimed on social media they have damning video footage that would, in their words, \u201cend Baffert\u201d if it were released to the public.<\/p>\n

The two men have thousands of followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, under the @SwiftHitter (Wunderler) and @barshoelife (DiCorcia) accounts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Six-time Kentucky Derby winner Baffert also claims the pair have threatened, extorted, and defamed him, while engaging \u201cin an escalating pattern of unlawful and threatening behavior directed specifically at Baffert and his family,\u201d via social media and text messaging.<\/p>\n

Doping Scandal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wunderler and DiCorcia\u2019s allegations stem from the 2021 Kentucky Derby doping scandal. Baffert\u2019s Medina Spirit\u00a0failed a drug test<\/strong><\/a> after winning the race, and the trainer was\u00a0suspended from racing<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at Churchill Downs.<\/p>\n

Baffert denies doping. He says Medina Spirit was being treated with a topical ointment for a rash that caused betamethasone, a substance banned in Kentucky and other states, to show up in the test.<\/p>\n

Six months later, the controversy deepened when Medina Spirit died of a heart attack. Since 2000, at least 74 other horses from Baffert\u2019s stable have died, a fact that has consistently been amplified by the defendants on social media.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Baffert’s default judgment motion describes repeated, unsuccessful efforts to personally serve a summons and copy of the complaint on Wunderler, Blood Horse <\/a><\/em>reports<\/a>. These papers were ultimately served to his mother, according to court filings. Wunderler hasn’t filed any papers in the case nor retained an attorney, the motion states.<\/p>\n

Wunderler is a plaintiff in a separate federal civil lawsuit<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0against Baffert that claims the drug scandal caused him to lose gambling revenue.<\/p>\n

\u2018Manufactured Scandal\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Baffert lawsuit states that the plaintiff hasn’t viewed the allegedly incriminating video. Nevertheless, Baffert\u2019s lawyers claim the footage has been \u201cdeceptively edited to cast [their client] and his staff in a false light with the specific intent of manufacturing a scandal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also claims that Wunderler attempted to blackmail Baffert, requesting money in return for releasing the clips to his lawyers. Wunderler has denied this allegation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the leadup to this year\u2019s Belmont Stakes in New York, Wunderler urged his followers on X to bring dangerous objects to the race to throw at Baffert and his family, according to the suit. Wunderler later posted an image of Baffert\u2019s house and claimed he \u201cslaughters horses on national TV.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Racehorse trainer Bob Baffert has filed a motion for a default judgment in his extortion and defamation lawsuit against two New Jersey gamblers. The federal suit alleges that Justin Wunderler and Daniel DiCorcia falsely claimed on social media they have damning video footage that would, in their words, \u201cend Baffert\u201d if it were released to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":302059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14577,60],"tags":[89057,84771,88143,88142,89056],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBaffert Asks for Summary Judgment in \u2018Swifthitter\u2019 Defamation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bob Baffert seeks summary judgment in defamation case vs. Justin Wunderler (Swifthitter) and Daniel DiCorcia (barshoelife).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Baffert Asks for Summary Judgment in \u2018Swifthitter\u2019 Defamation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bob Baffert seeks summary judgment in defamation case vs. Justin Wunderler (Swifthitter) and Daniel DiCorcia (barshoelife).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-07T00:43:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-09T19:10:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/baffert.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"636\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/\",\"name\":\"Baffert Asks for Summary Judgment in \u2018Swifthitter\u2019 Defamation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/baffert.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-07T00:43:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-09T19:10:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Bob Baffert seeks summary judgment in defamation case vs. Justin Wunderler (Swifthitter) and Daniel DiCorcia (barshoelife).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/baffert-asks-for-summary-judgment-in-swifthitter-defamation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/baffert.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/baffert.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":636,\"caption\":\"Bob Baffert, above, is suing two New Jersey social media gambling personalities who claim to have damning video evidence that would \u201cruin\u201d him. 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