Florida philanthropist Bill Pulte is suing a former executive of the company founded by his grandfather, Atlanta-based PulteGroup, for defamation, alleging the former chief operating officer launched an online bot farm to harass him and his family.
The lawsuit was filed last month in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Palm Beach County against former PulteGroup COO Brandon Jones, who also was fired last month.
“Jones has created a sophisticated network of fictitious accounts (or bots) to target, publish and artificially amplify incessant, targeted, coordinated and malicious harassment attacks on Pulte, his grandfather and the Pulte family,” the complaint states.
This week, the homebuilding company’s Board of Directors said it had completed an investigation into Jones’ alleged improper use of social media. The probe concluded Jones was the source of several Twitter accounts used to make negative posts about Pulte family members and that there was no evidence that other company employees were involved.
But the investigation found no indication Jones used artificial intelligence or automated technology, such as a bot network, to make the Twitter posts. The employee’s behavior ran counter to the company’s code of conduct for employees, PulteGroup said in a statement provided to the Florida Record.
The investigation was carried out by King & Spalding LLP and led by John Horn, a former U.S. attorney in Georgia.
Plaintiff Bill Pulte was a company board member until 2020, but he no longer has any affiliation with the company founded by his grandfather. PulteGroup is not a party to Pulte’s defamation lawsuit.
“(Jones’) bot network’s behavior includes constant and repetitive attacks on the Pulte family, accusing members of the Pulte family of crimes, specifically arson, elder abuse and securities laws violations that they did not commit, following illicit pornography and personally insulting Pulte’s Twitter followers,” the complaint says.
Bill Pulte’s legal filings also suggest the possibility that another PulteGroup employee interacted with the social media accounts in question.