Unmasked in US, billionaire in rape case we can’t name

A BILLIONAIRE who gagged the Press after he was accused of rape was identified in the US yesterday.

The entrepreneur launched an extraordinary legal claim in America, saying he was the victim of an orchestrated smear campaign that falsely alleged he had ‘paid money to settle a claim for sexual assault in London’.

His lawyers issued a statement confirming he was arrested on suspicion of the sex attack, but the court injunction issued in Britain meant he still could not be named by the Press – despite effectively identifying himself.

Critics said the case highlighted the inadequacies of the British legal system’s use of injunctions in the face of international online publishing.

The 43-year-old businessman was arrested on suspicion of rape in May after a 31-year-old woman said she had been attacked in the penthouse suite of an exclusive London hotel, The Ned.

A month later he obtained a High Court injunction banning the media from naming him as a rape suspect.

The case was later dropped but the entrepreneur this week filed a legal claim in a California court accusing a PR firm in the US of spreading lies. The case was widely reported in the US yesterday, along with the man’s identity, but he still cannot be named in Britain.