NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

11/16/14
Amy Sara Clark
Staff Writer

Sam Kellner, the chasidic sex abuse whistleblower who was indicted in 2011 for bribery and extortion, but whose case dismissed in early 2014, has filed a defamation suit against The Jewish Daily Forward.

The suit, which concerns a Nov.14, 2013 article published by the Forward, entitled “Sam Kellner’s Tangled Hasidic Tale of Child Sex Abuse, Extortion and Faith,” alleges that the article relied on illegally made and doctored recordings in an attempt to commit “low grade character assassination” of Kellner. In doing so, the suit claims, the article turned the “distinguished” publication into “the propaganda wing of a criminal conspiracy” to protect convicted child molester Baruch Lebovits, making it the “Pravda for pedophiles.”

The suit, filed by Kellner’s attorney Niall Macgiollabhui, of the law firm of Michael G. Dowd, in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday, alleges…