Buying Silence: How oligarchs, corporations and plutocrats use the law to gag their critics

THE ERA OF WIN AT ALL COSTS, WHETHER LEGAL OR ILLEGAL , IS UPON US. THIS IS THE ERA OF THE 'SLAPP' CASE.

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs, are designed to censor, intimidate and silence critics of the powerful and wealthy by burdening them with aggressive opposing lawyers, heavy legal costs and deeply intrusive - and sometimes illegal - private investigations until they abandon the case. The UK has the unenviable accolade of being the number one destination for such cases. Billionaire oligarchs, often ex-convicts and linked to organised crime, come here to launder their reputations through suing for libel - even when what's been written about them is entirely true. Even worse, more often than not they either win their cases or scare their opponents into self-censorship, in a devastating blow to investigative journalism, media freedom and the public interest. In this timely, insightful and often shocking book, David Hooper, veteran media lawyer, explores how the power of money enables the very wealthy - including Robert Maxwell, Nadhim Zahawi and McDonald's - to crush their critics through SLAPP tactics. From billionaire oligarchs to powerful corporations, from corrupt politicians to super-rich businesspeople, Hooper describes how those with something to hide tried to stop you knowing about it, how their lawyers were willing to help them and - most importantly - what the government urgently needs to do to stop them.

“Those with power have often been able to manipulate the law to buy their way out of trouble. But they also do the opposite. They buy the law and weaponise it against those who call them out. A new kind of warfare – lawfare – is in operation. Crush your opponent in the courts; pay lawyers so much money their ethics go out the window. A shocking and vitally important book.” - Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws KC

“Compellingly told, eye-popping, sometimes hilarious and always illuminating, David Hooper’s book is an excellent and forensic takedown of the often-corrupt clients who abuse a broken legal system – abetted by a generation of equally venal lawyers who have misplaced their moral compass – to sue those that would hold them to account into silence. The stories you will read here are more usually found in the pages of thrillers, but these stories are frighteningly and unfortunately true. Buying Silence is an urgent call to arms, exposing why the British tradition of ‘free speech’ is increasingly a myth, and why we should all be bloody furious at just how badly the British legal system serves us.” - Mark Stephens CBE, solicitor