A modeling agency mogul and Miami-based businessman is fighting back after he claims anonymous accounts on Reddit and Twitter have set out on a campaign to slander him as ‘the next Jeffrey Epstein.’
Riccardo Silva, owner of Silva International Investments and best known as head of Select Model Managements and co-owner to European soccer giants AC Milan, is asking a federal judge to unmask the accounts allegedly smearing him.
Silva is also known as a philanthropist and megadonor to Florida International University, where they named the football stadium after him.
He’s made several filings in court, claiming he’s been accused of ‘serial sexual abuse,’ ‘sexual harassment’ and ‘falsely likening him to the conduct of Epstein.’
Silva is demanding that these and mobile billboards making what he calls phony accusations against him across the city of Miami be stopped and their backers unmasked.
Riccardo Silva, owner of Silva International Investments and best known as head of Select Model Managements and co-owner to European soccer giants AC Milan, is asking a federal judge to unmask the accounts allegedly smearing him
‘The statements – on their face – falsely accuse Mr. Silva of egregious criminal acts that are capable of being proven that they did not occur as a matter of fact,’ his lawyers claim in one of the court motions in US District Court for Northern California earlier this week.
‘Likewise, the context of the statements suggests that Mr. Silva committed egregious criminal acts of sexual misconduct,’ they added.
Silva’s team argues that his ‘due process rights will continue to be prejudiced’ without Reddit and Twitter helping to unmask those making these claims.
‘Mr. Silva and his family are the victims of a vicious, anonymous defamation campaign,’ a spokesman for Silva told The Daily Beast.
‘Each of the anonymous statements attacking Mr. Silva is false and defamatory and he vehemently denies them. He has, accordingly, brought his defamation lawsuit against the wrongdoers and is taking all available measures to reveal the identities of the anonymous culprits, who have gone to extreme lengths to cover their tracks and avoid answering for their misdeeds.’
The accusations first started with the mobile billboard, which drove around Silva’s Miami Beach condo in December of 2022, spotted by his 17-year-old son during the Art Basel fair in Miami.
The creator of those billboards has also taken to creating a website, a Twitter account and a subreddit defaming him, Silva claims.
The lawsuit adds that his son was ‘devastated to see his father portrayed in this way. This has caused extreme emotional distress to Mr. Silva and his family.’
Riccardo Silva awards the 2018 Globe Soccer Award to Cristiano Ronaldo on January 3, 2019
Silva and David Beckham, pictured here, own separate soccer teams in the city of Miami
Riccardo Silva and wife Tatiana Silva attend the Krug Journey Miami at Faena Hotel on March 9, 2016
The accusations didn’t merely live on those billboards, Silva argues, with someone taking to several Reddit pages to make the ‘defamatory remarks.’
Earlier this week, Silva filed a federal motion asking Reddit to unmask ‘several anonymous individuals’ on subreddits as wide-ranging as r/NYC, r/Miami, r/Florida, r/Chicago, r/Illinois, r/London, r/metoo, r/Modeling, r/sexualassault, r/TwoXChromosomes, r/abusesurvivors, r/emotionalabuse.
The unknown posters have also created a forum specifically to discuss Silva and tagged users of these various subreddits ‘to deliberately ensure that followers of those forums would see the statements.’
Later in the week, Silva filed another motion to ask Twitter to publicly out the person behind a Twitter account making similar accusations.
The filing claims that the user is tagging several media outlets in an attempt to further publicize what he says are false statements.
Riccardo Silva with James Corden in in the South of France in a July 4, 2019 photo from his Instagram page
Silva is famously co-owner of European soccer giants AC Milan
Silva’s even gone as far as to engage a private investigator in an attempt to track down his anonymous accusers.
The mobile billboard company who carried around the original ads is currently in mediation with Silva’s legal team.
Silva’s lawyers – who are seeking damages – believe he will, with the assistance of these huge tech companies, come out victorious in the legal system.
‘Mr. Silva is eager to have his day in court so that the truth can prevail and the anonymous culprits face the consequences for their damaging campaign and their reprehensible, dishonest actions,’ his spokesman said
Neither Twitter nor Reddit have filed responses as of Friday.
