Meta hires hotshot Harris attorney in battle with Aussie billionaire Andrew Forrest

Meta is muscling up with one of America’s top legal brains in its battle with Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest – and you won’t believe who else she works for.

EXCLUSIVE: A hotshot US attorney helping to prepare Kamala Harris for her TV showdown with Donald Trump, has been hired by Meta to defend a litigation claim from Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest.

The mining magnate’s lawyer Simon Clarke said Meta had hired a new legal team with Karen Dunn its star player.

It follows a “crucial strategic victory” for Dr Forrest in June, when the judge allowed his claim against Facebook to go ahead.

Australian billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest was the victim of five new scam ads published on Meta’s platforms every single day. Supplied

Dr Forrest is suing Meta, for allowing images in his likeness to be used in fake investment scam adverts that have led to millions of dollars stolen from innocent Australians.

The ruling was a significant legal win because up until now social media companies sued in the US have been able to use Section 230, a 30-year-old federal law, to claim immunity from liability for content posted by third parties.

“No other piece of litigation has the strategic significance that ours does,” Mr Clarke said. “So it’s definitely a concern for them, as indicated by the fact they weren’t really paying that much attention until they lost a few weeks ago, and now they’ve gunned up and are throwing stuff at us every day.”

Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest with Fortescue workers.

He said Ms Dunn was reputedly the best litigator in the US at the moment.

“The other team wasn’t shoddy at all, but this is an upgrade,” Mr Clarke said.

Ms Dunn, who is a partner at Paul Weiss, has an impressive resume, winning cases for big clients such as Uber and Apple as well as scoring a victory against neo Nazis and white supremacists involved in racially motivated violence in Charlottesville in 2017.

A debating specialist, she has helped presidents and vice-presidents prepare, and is currently prepping Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris for her face-off with former President Trump.

Mr Clarke said he has boosted Dr Forrest’s legal team by bringing on-board American Joshua Matz from Hinkler Fink LLP.

He said Meta wants to be allowed to appeal the June decision. Its legal team will argue its case in a Californian court on August 22.

Karen Dunn. Picture: Supplied

Mr Clarke said he expected Meta to “lose badly, not just because I’m a Forrest fan” but because the interim appeal was a “very challenging process”.

He said Meta was also trying to stop Dr Forrest using discovery to see how its digital advertising business operates and how much revenue it brings in.

It is alleged Meta makes millions of dollars from fraudulent adverts.

He said Dr Forrest, worth $22 billion, was willing to throw everything at the case, and unlike most plaintiffs was not interested in “any amount of money that Facebook could offer”.

Joshua Matz. Picture: Supplied

A spokeswoman for Dr Forrest refused to say how much he had spent on his legal fight with Meta so far, but the Wall Street Journal reported he had shelled out US$5m (A$7.5m) on lawyers and US$10m (A$15m) on a team of cyber experts who scour social media platforms 24/7 looking for scam adverts using his image and reporting them.

Dr Forrest previously said he was suing Meta on “behalf of ordinary Australians” who don’t have the means to do so.

“I am prepared to spend whatever it takes to hold Facebook’s directors and its leaders responsible,” Dr Forrest said in June. “I don’t care what it costs. I want to see them in the witness stand explaining their actions.”