Defamation Suit Alleges TransNexus Depicted Avid CEO as Illegal Robocaller

Common carrier Avid Telecom sees itself as a “firewall” against illegal robocalling, but it has been victimized by “unsavory entities” like telecom software company TransNexus, motivated by profit or to “score points in the media,” alleged Avid in a defamation complaint Wednesday (docket 1:22-cv-04829) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta. Avid alleges TransNexus published a transcript of a Skype conversation Nov. 15 depicting one of the participants seeking to unlawfully mask illegal robocalls so they wouldn’t get flagged by federal investigatory agencies. But instead of identifying the actual Skype participant, TransNexus published a doctored version depicting one of the parties to be Avid CEO Michael Lansky, it said. “TransNexus’s doctored transcript was published on its blog, and then picked up and republished on numerous other platforms,” said Avid. “To be clear,” Lansky wasn't part of the Skype conversation, it said, yet the TransNexus blog labels Avid “as an illicit robocall company headed by a CEO who breaks the law.” Within days, Avid’s providers began citing the false depictions of Lansky as reason to “cut ties” with the company, said the lawsuit. Avid and Lansky “have no choice but to seek to correct this record and hold TransNexus accountable for its deliberately false publication,” said the complaint. It speculates TransNexus doctored the Skype transcript and published the false allegations about Lansky to drum up publicity and stimulate sales of its ClearIP and NexOSS software products, which are promoted as helping customers prevent robocalling. TransNexus didn’t comment Thursday.