Vlogger Andre Stephens ignores defamation case, ordered to pay damages

After failing to formally acknowledge a defamation lawsuit brought against him, social media influencer Andre Stephens will be ordered to pay damages for defaming investment banker Ryan Strachan. 

Strachan argued in the Supreme Court that Stephens made "gravely defamatory" videos and images that were published through his social media accounts on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. 

The court awarded a default judgment in favour of Strachan, and as a result will assess the damages, costs and interest that Stephens will have to pay to Strachan. 

The comments related to the fraud-hit brokerage and investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL). 

In March, Stephens said he had received a demand letter and that his lawyers would deal with it. The lawsuit was subsequently filed. 

Citing postings on February 5, 7 and 18, attorney Trevor Cuff, of the firm Cuff and Shaw, said Stephens "maliciously besmirched" the reputation of his client, who is an "eminent and highly respected senior member of his profession". 

"It is hard to imagine a more damaging series of libels of our client which are calculated to cause him serious and lasting damage both in his public and private life reflecting as they do on his integrity, honesty, his professional competence and his motives," Cuff wrote. 

Strachan is currently the Vice-President of Investor Relations at GK Capital, the investment and advisory subsidiary of food and financial services company GraceKennedy Limited.

In January, Strachan confirmed that he joined SSL as a wealth adviser in September 2011 and later supervised Jean-Ann Panton, the former wealth adviser accused in the SSL fraud, for one year. He left in August 2015.

But Strachan said he had no reason to question the Panton's actions in managing an account held by sport legend Usain Bolt's holding company Welljen. He noted that audit trails, for which he was not responsible, may have picked things up.

“I was never made aware of any concerns, so I can't speak to that because that was never at my level of authority,” he said.

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