By Milton Allimadi
Above University of Michigan President Grasso. Photo: University of Michigan website
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Dedicated journalists stick with a solid story when they know they have it.
Many years ago, while most media were swallowing Morgan Stanley’s spin and press releases, I was the only reporter revealing that the firm had paid an informant $10,000 to entrap a former employee, the late Christian Curry, and have him arrested before he could file a discrimination lawsuit after being fired. Curry was ultimately released, and he later sued Morgan Stanley for $1.35 billion.
During depositions in the Curry-Morgan Stanley litigation, it was revealed that the firm’s communications director referred to Black Star News as an “Uptown” newspaper in communications with the CEO and the General Counsel.
Eventually, however, major media organizations—beginning with The Wall Street Journal—recognized that the “Uptown” newspaper had gotten the Morgan Stanley story right. The Journal interviewed me for one of its columns and credited Black Star News for the reporting.
That was followed by an appearance on CNN and interviews with other media outlets.
In the end, Morgan Stanley’s communications director and General Counsel both parted ways with the firm. The CEO also did not remain with the company as long as had been anticipated.
A New York Police Department detective who investigated the case that resulted in the charges against Curry being dismissed congratulated me on my reporting. I thanked him.
When it comes to the University of Michigan story involving Dr. Paul Gregory St. Claire and Dr. Dominic Barberio—based on allegations by Dr. St. Claire’s former wife Cassandra Fameux that the two poisoned her with antipsychotic drugs for nine years—the “Uptown” newspaper again reported the facts and gave all interested parties repeated opportunities to respond.
How meticulous was the reporting?
When Dr. St. Claire’s divorce attorney, Jessica Larson, emailed me warning that if I sent her or her law firm, Mallory Lapka Scott and Selin, any more questions she would consider it harassment, I nevertheless sent another round of questions because I understand the importance of giving people an opportunity to respond.
This time, however, I copied Meridian Township Police Chief Richard Grillo on the email so there could be no suggestion that I was engaging in harassment.
Every email I exchanged with Ms. Larson has since disappeared from my email system. I reported this apparent cyberattack to the FBI on June 22 and June 26, 2026, and to the NYPD on June 29, 2026.
Earlier, on May 12, 2026, I reported that Larson had parted ways with her law firm.
Then, on May 23, 2026, I reported that the entire firm had apparently shut down.
The emails I exchanged with Dr. St. Claire’s defamation attorney, Chris Newberg, also disappeared from my Gmail account. I reported that to law enforcement as well.
Among the missing emails was a letter I sent Newberg on May 4, 2024, offering to interview Dr. St. Claire and to publish any response identifying what he believed to be inaccurate in the articles I had written up to that point. That offer was never accepted. Instead, Dr. St. Claire, through Newberg, chose litigation.
Searching for these critical emails before realizing they had disappeared caused me to submit my interrogatory responses to my now-former counsel two days late—on June 26, 2026, instead of June 24, 2026.
I am hearing that, because of that 48-hour delay, Dr. St. Claire was granted a default. There is a court hearing on July 20, 2026, in Lansing, Michigan, where I intend to explain the circumstances surrounding the delay in the event the court is unaware of what occurred. I have a legitimate explanation for the delay—the apparent criminal cyber intrusion and deletion of emails—and I also have a meritorious defense to the defamation lawsuit.
I understand that Google can recover deleted emails and, perhaps more importantly, identify the party or parties responsible for criminal cyber intrusions if requested through law enforcement or by court order. That is what I hope happens.
As I have stated repeatedly, my reporting was based on the facts. As outlined above, I gave the interested parties every opportunity to respond—even after being accused of “harassment.”
Dr. St. Claire’s defamation lawsuit against me and Black Star News should be decided by a jury on the merits—not by a 48-hour technicality after I discovered that I had apparently been the victim of criminal hacking and the deletion of critical emails.
Meanwhile, I am still waiting for records from the University of Michigan.
I initiated a FOIA request on Oct. 15, 2025, and paid the $25 fee requested by the university. Since then, the university has provided at least six different production dates—beginning in October 2025, then November 2025, followed by four additional deadlines—all of which came and went without the requested records being produced.
One cannot help but wonder whether the University of Michigan would treat a major “downtown” media outlet the same way it has treated Black Star News.
The ball is now in your court, University of Michigan Interim President Domenico Grasso.
University of Michigan Interim President Domenico Grasso. Black Star News filed FOIA request nine months ago and paid $25 fee requested. We are still waiting for the information.
