Jeff Greene Threatens to Sue Florida Paper

The St. Petersburg Times, which has been responsible for the majority of investigative barbs directed against Florida’s Democratic senate candidate Jeff Greene, received some return fire in the form of a libel suit yesterday.

Greene’s letter, available here, demands a retraction of “equal” size to the original August 8 article about Greene’s shady real estate dealings in California — or a lawsuit will be brought against the local paper. It alleges:

“The Times reporting falsely accuses an extremely successful businessman and viable candidate for high office of serious crimes. The resulting damage to my client’s reputation from this false reporting can only be measured in the many millions of dollars unless the Times immediately corrects its libel. Failure to do so will unquestionably lead to litigation in order to hold the Times accountable for its wrongdoing.”

The Times’ lawyer, Alison Steele, said the paper would release an official response later today, but doubts it needs to correct anything. “The story’s based on public record,” Steele told Politico’s Maggie Haberman. “And the public record shows what it shows. And that’s what the Times reported. We’re certainly examining his allegations. But I’m not seeing it.”