Chilean football club owner settles defamation action over Amazon Prime show

Spanish businessman Jorge Segovia Bonet took case in Irish High Court against streaming TV giant over its drama series El Presidente

The Amazon Prime series, which streams in Ireland and the rest of Europe, charts events surrounding the 2015 US federal case against Fifa
The Amazon Prime series, which streams in Ireland and the rest of Europe, charts events surrounding the 2015 US federal case against Fifa

A Spanish businessman and the owner of a professional Chilean football club has settled a High Court action alleging he was defamed in an Amazon Prime show.

The settlement of Jorge Segovia Bonet’s court case is without an admission of liability. He selected Ireland as the jurisdiction to sue alleging a Chilean drama series, El Presidente, defamed him.

Mr Segovia Bonet is the owner of the Chilean soccer club Unión Española.

It has been agreed as part of the settlement that any alleged offending material would be removed along with any reference to Mr Segovia Bonet. It is understood a six-figure sum was paid to the businessman along with legal costs.

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The proceedings were brought by Mr Segovia Bonet and SEK International Institution, a privately-run educational organisation associated with a network of international secondary schools, of which Mr Segovia Bonet was president. The case was against Amazon Digital UK, Amazon Media, Amazon Data Services and Amazon Europe Core.

The series El Presidente, which streams in Ireland and the rest of Europe, charts events surrounding the 2015 US federal case against Fifa.

In the High Court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Alexander Owens was told the case had been settled without an admission of liability.

Outside court, Mr Segovia Bonet’s solicitor, Paul Tweed, said his client had the financial strength to take on a global broadcaster, which has operations around the world. This made it “difficult to establish an appropriate jurisdiction to take legal action in”.