Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King and his left-wing super PAC quietly settled a defamation lawsuit with former Philadelphia district attorney candidate Carlos Vega, who King falsely accused of framing a black man for murder.
King’s Real Justice PAC on April 12 paid $75,000 to the law firm representing Vega, according to campaign finance records. Vega—who ran against Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner—sued Real Justice PAC, King, and Krasner in May 2021 for defamation after King called Vega a “real life supervillain” and accused him of framing a black man who was falsely convicted of rape and murder in the 1990s.
“I previously posted that Carlos framed and convicted Anthony Wright of rape and murder in 1993 and that Carlos has lied about it for generations,” King, who served as a surrogate for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaigns, wrote in an April 4 Instagram post. “I was wrong when I made those statements.” Days later, on April 14, Vega agreed to settle and dismiss the lawsuit, according to court filings obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The settlement marks another setback for King, who has faced allegations of financial mismanagement at his activist groups and of making false allegations in high-profile criminal cases. In 2019, King falsely identified a white man named Robert Cantrell as the possible killer of a 7-year-old black girl in Houston. King posted a photo of Cantrell online and suggested he was racist. Two black men were later charged with the killing. Cantrell committed suicide several months later.
Deray McKesson, a former ally of King’s in the Black Lives Matter movement, also accused King of committing fraud at his activist groups. The mother of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy killed by police, said King “robbed” her by holding unauthorized fundraisers in her son’s name. King has denied the fraud allegations.
Hellbound and Down 