Enough silence. The criminal schemes of Ben "Bait-and-Switch" Norton must be known.
In January 2022, Ben Norton lied to the public about the circumstances of his departure from The Grayzone, creating the false impression that he left voluntarily in protest of our critical coverage of the mass surveillance, repression and penury imposed on citizens across the world under the guise of pandemic controls.
In fact, I fired Ben for publicly attacking his colleagues - and particularly me - over our opposition to perpetual lockdowns and jab mandates. He thus violated an employment contract he signed, which explicitly forbade Grayzone contractors from attacking one another in public. This behavior followed a string of bizarre ethical breaches and came during a lengthy period in which Ben refused to work or communicate with me.
After being fired, Ben unilaterally seized control of numerous social media accounts belonging to The Grayzone. He also seized the YouTube and Patreon accounts dedicated to our shared Moderate Rebels podcast.
Ben then initiated a shocking bait-and-switch scheme, attempting to reappropriate these accounts to establish a new outlet, “Multipolarista,” which was exclusively under his control. (That outlet was rebranded this January as the “Geopolitics and Economy Report.”) In doing so, he deceived the public, stole intellectual property belonging to the organization which had employed him for over three years, defrauded supporters of Moderate Rebels, and violated a written agreement with me to share earnings from our podcast.
According to our original written agreement to split earnings from Moderate Rebels, Ben and I each received approximately $3000 per month. Since absconding with our podcast’s Patreon account in January 2022, I estimate that Ben has received $70,000 I would have been entitled to.
I was only able to re-establish control of The Grayzone’s social media properties by delivering Ben a cease and desist letter (see screenshots below) through a legal advocate, and threatening him with a lawsuit if he did not enter into “a process of negotiating a fair and equitable separation agreement.”
Ben was so determined to avoid legal and public accountability for his actions - and I was so averse to public drama - that we began a mediation process. This ultimately resulted in him agreeing to relinquish control of all social media accounts except for the Patreon belonging to Moderate Rebels.
Following the conclusion of the moderation process, Ben deployed yet another cynical deception, suggesting in a final message to YouTube subscribers of Moderate Rebels that he had somehow been censored. In fact, he had signed an agreement to relinquish control of that account, where he had apparently been profiting from my labor by taking 100% of our ad revenue. He therefore violated our agreement – another broken contract amid a string of criminal schemes.
When I terminated Ben’s position at The Grayzone, I emphasized to him that if he had been so indignant about his colleagues’ views on the pandemic, he could have resigned on respectful terms and retained our support for his future ventures. (I never once demanded he take my line on the issue as a condition for collaborating with me). I also reminded him how I found him work at AlterNet after he was let go by Salon dot com, then arranged another job for him after our positions ended there. And I recalled how I arranged legal support for Ben after we were hit with a malicious SLAPP suit relating to his work.
Thanks to The Grayzone’s support, Ben was able to travel to political flashpoints and report from the ground. He was treated fairly and granted total editorial freedom. He was even able to buy property in Nicaragua.
In the end, Ben rewarded our trust by fomenting a damaging public conflict on an issue he no longer discusses. He deceived our audience about the terms of his departure. He attempted to steal our social media accounts to boost his own brand and paycheck, and defrauded investors to our Patreon account to profit from my labor and make off with tens of thousands of dollars.
In over two decades in independent media, I have not worked with a more cowardly, unethical scoundrel than Ben. As he arrives in a new country to benefit from the goodwill of his hosts, citizens must be warned that a criminal mind is lurking in their midst.
While I would prefer this to be the last time I speak Ben’s name, I have more to say if necessary.
Below is the cease and desist letter detailing the illicit and devious activities of Ben Norton
