Ex-Parler CEO’s ouster lawsuit heads to trial in Las Vegas

Attorneys began jury selection Monday in Las Vegas for a trial stemming from the ouster lawsuit filed by former Parler CEO John Matze. The suit, initiated in 2021, names several high‑profile figures, including current Vice President J.D. Dan Bongino, the former FBI deputy director who once held a 7.5 percent stake in the platform. Parler, launched in 2018 in Henderson, Nevada, was linked to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot and subsequently removed from the Apple App Store on Jan. 9, 2021, before Amazon withdrew its hosting services on Jan. 11, 2021. In 2021, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D‑NY, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, requested an FBI investigation into the app’s role in the attack, asserting that many participants had used the service. Matze’s legal team alleges that defendants conspired to “steal” his forty percent (40 %) ownership interest. Their 2021 complaint reads exactly: “Matze served as CEO from Parler’s instauration and until January 2021, when he was abruptly ousted in usurpation of the instrumentality and nationalist argumentation for endeavoring to sphere Parler’s commitment to escaped look portion combating immoderate misuse by convulsive extremists and home terrorists in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 onslaught at the U.S. Capitol,” his 2021 ailment said. “Rather than support Parler, its different owner, Rebekah Mercer, sought to co-opt it as a awesome oregon as the ‘tip of the spear’ for her marque of conservatism, and plotted to unit Matze retired as CEO, Manager, and Member, and bargain his forty percent (40%) ownership interest.” Mercer, a prominent right‑wing donor, has denied those allegations. Her lawyers countered, stating that the lawsuit involves “a quality betwixt a former CEO and assorted stakeholders in the concern he ran into the ground.” Chris Reeder, counsel for an additional defendant Jeffrey Wernick—a Parler advisor and executive—said he expects Bongino to testify at trial while Vance will not. Reeder’s remarks, preserved verbatim, are: “In bid to beryllium a ineligible conspiracy, you person to beryllium an statement for an unlawful intent to harm the plaintiff,” said Reeder, who represents suspect Jeffrey Wernick, a Parler advisor and executive. “And they person fundamentally thrown fundamentally everybody into this conspiracy theory.” He added: “There was ne’er an intent to harm Mr. Matze. There was an intent to support Parler in a horrible time. Because you got to remember, portion each this is going on, they’re trying to get Parler backmost up connected the Internet due to the fact that they went virtually from 15 cardinal users to zero.” Parler is now back online under different ownership, according to Reeder. Litigation has persisted for the past five years. The docket transcript spans 175 pages with 1,125 entries, and Monday’s courtroom was so crowded that some attorneys sat at a folding table squeezed into a corner. District Judge Maria Gall is presiding; the trial may continue into late September. Earlier this summer, District Judge Mark Denton granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on Matze’s conversion claim, which accused them of wrongfully exerting control over his property, but he allowed the conspiracy allegation and other claims to proceed.