Abacus Seeks To Amend Defamation Suit Against Coventry, Claims Potential Liability Exceeds $100 Mln

(RTTNews) - Abacus Global Management Inc. (ABX), an alternative asset management company, on Wednesday said it has filed a motion seeking permission to file a second amended complaint in its ongoing defamation lawsuit against Coventry First LLC and its co-founder and Executive Chairman Alan Buerger.

The proposed complaint alleges that Coventry and Buerger made nearly 20 false and misleading statements about Abacus, its business model and its use of third-party life expectancy data. Abacus is seeking claims for defamation, defamation by implication, violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and defamation per se, which could allow for punitive damages.

Abacus said Coventry's potential liability for the alleged conduct could exceed $100 million. The proposed filing also alleges that Coventry and its affiliates purchased more than 4,000 life-expectancy reports from Lapetus and consistently purchased more reports than Abacus between 2019 and 2022.

The motion was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Abacus said the court had previously denied Coventry's motion to dismiss and allowed three of its claims to proceed to discovery, with depositions of Coventry's executives underway.

Abacus shares were up about 2% in pre-market trading after closing at $9.01 on Tuesday.