Politicos Suing Arianna Huffington for Stealing HuffPo Idea

Arianna Huffington and business partner Ken Lerer are being sued by two Democratic consultants for allegedly stealing the idea for the Huffington Post. Peter Daou and James Boyce allege that they were in very initial meetings with Huffington and Lerer over the creation of the site, and that they had a handshake agreement to work together.

The suit alleges Daou and Boyce convinced Huffington Democrats needed “a system [for] pushing the message, not just for fundraising.” An idea that gave birth to HuffPo.

“We have now officially entered into Bizzaro World. James Boyce and Peter Daou, two political operatives who we rejected going into business with or hiring 6 years ago, and who had absolutely nothing to do with creating, running, financing, or building the Huffington Post, now concoct some scheme saying they own part of the company,” Huffington and Lerer told POLITICO in response to the suit.

Huffington also alleged the pair tried to negotiate a settlement shortly before filing suit and “said they’d go away for just a little money.”

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