IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A Federal jury, sitting in Manhattan in the Southern District of New York, last week unanimously found that Congoo, LLC, dba Adblade, its C.E.O., Ashraf Nashed, and its Senior V.P. of Business Development, Rafael Cosentino, had, through separate false statements, defamed Broadspring, Inc.

In addition to finding that the statements were defamatory and damaging to Broadspring, the jury also awarded punitive damages, finding that the actions of Congoo, Nashed and Cosentino were made with such malice, oppression or fraud as to justify the award of punitive damages.

The lawsuit between Broadspring and Adblade, direct competitors in the online advertising service business, had been ongoing since 2013. The defamatory, false and misleading statements were made on a series of emails to premier publishers, in blog comments posted using multiple false names, including in a web page created by Cosentino which posted language provided by Nashed and falsely purported to be an unbiased review of online advertising networks.  

The fake web review was also forwarded to several then current and potential publisher customers of Broadspring, as well as to the Federal Trade Commission for the purpose of using the false and defamatory statements to injure Broadspring's business relationships and induce FTC action based on the false statements in the false and fake review.  

When questioned on his submission of false statements to the FTC, Adblade's Senior VP of Business Development testified under oath that his actions were "dishonest, but not deception".

"Broadspring vs. Adblade, was primarily a fight for our reputation that had been intentionally attacked by the defamation from AdBlade, Cosentino and Nashed.  While this has been a long and arduous process, we are vindicated and extremely satisfied that the jury has found that the actions of Congoo/Adblade, Nashed and Cosentino were completely unacceptable and clearly constituted defamation. We believe companies should compete on the merits of their products, services, and financial results, and the actions of Adblade clearly crossed the line of both what is permissible under the law and standards of business decency," said Jonathan Markiles, C.E.O. of Broadspring.

"Damages are very hard to prove in these types of cases and we went in with our eyes open. Damages were not our primary objective.  Our primary objective was to expose Nashed's, Cosentino's and Adblade's outrageous behavior, and we rejected a seven-figure offer of judgment because it did not include an admission or retraction of their lies. We intend to seek injunctive relief against Nashed, Cosentino and Adblade in addition to the already awarded punitive damages for their defamatory statements. We will continue to aggressively defend our reputation from any unlawful activities of competitors while offering our partners innovative and high paying advertising options. At the end of the day, we believe that publishers have the right to choose whom they work with based on merit and that lies and deception should play no part in business," he continued.

About Broadspring:

Irvine, California based Broadspring specializes in creating digital content for its advertising clients that honestly and compellingly explain its clients' offers, and generates greater purchase intent and lower costs per acquisition for these offers. The company's success results from a combination of creative and copywriting skills, the ability to place content in front of the right audience at the right time and optimization and other proprietary technologies they have developed. These proprietary systems allow the company to quickly test and optimize content and track consumer behavior through the entire sales process – from initial browsing through post-transaction activity. This translates into high volume, high-purchase intent site traffic for their clients. For more information about working with Broadspring please visit www.broadspring.com. For media inquiries please contact Orange County Public Relations Agency, DRIVEN Public Relations, www.drivenpublicrelations.com , Natasha Nelson, natasha@drivenpublicrelations.com

SOURCE Broadspring

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