Olivet University Sues Newsweek Publisher for Defamation

Lawsuit seeks $100 million in damages.

Olivet University has filed a federal lawsuit against publishers, editors, and writers at Newsweek for defamation, claiming it has suffered reputational, professional, and financial harm exceeding $100 million.

Olivet University via Google Maps photos / Insert of David Jang

According to the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York on December 18, Newsweek publisher Dev Pragad and several Newsweek employees have been engaged in a “systematic” attack on Olivet starting in 2022.

The magazine has published 23 articles — the most recent on October 2, 2025 — alleging such serious crimes as “money laundering, visa fraud and labor trafficking,” the lawsuit claims, adding that the defendants “knew” these allegations were false.

Olivet University, founded in 2000 by David Jang, a controversial South Korean pastor,  claims that Pragad was motivated to attack the school because “Olivet members have served as whistleblowers to Pragad’s alleged fraudulent behavior, including business fraud, tax evasion, ad fraud, lying about conversations with government officials, and immigration fraud.”

The Jang-affiliated IBT Media once owned Newsweek, which after breaking away from the group sued IBT for $35 million in damages it claimed it sustained under IBT management.

Other defendants include Nancy Cooper, global editor-in-chief emeritus and advisor of Newsweek; Jennifer Cunningham, editor-in-chief of Newsweek; and Naveed Jamali, Newsweek’s editor-at-large. The lawsuit claims that Jamali was the author of several of the allegedly defamatory articles.

The specific false and “defamatory” statements that Olivet alleges include claiming that Olivet pleaded guilty to money laundering and claiming that it is under investigation for human trafficking. Other “defamatory” statements associated Olivet with drug trafficking.

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The lawsuit alleges that Newsweek’s publishers, editors, and writers engaged in defamation per se, meaning the statements were so inherently damaging that the plaintiffs do not have to prove reputational harm or financial damages.

The court documents go on at length citing specific statements Olivet considers to be defamatory.

Olivet is requesting a jury trial and an injunction to stop the defendants from publishing any more “defamatory” statements. It is seeking no less than $100 million in punitive damages for the alleged “malicious” defamatory article.

In 2023, Olivet filed a lawsuit against Newsweek for defamation per se, but the federal judge dismissed the case in 2024. The judge agreed with Newsweek that its statements about Olivet’s guilty plea for “money laundering” were “substantially true.”

On September 30, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney’s Office informed the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that “no charges are going to be filed against Olivet University or anyone else affiliated with Olivet University” for allegations of human trafficking and visa fraud.

The allegations of trafficking and visa fraud arose from a civil lawsuit filed by international students at Olivet University. Their civil suit will continue on the “preponderance of evidence” standard that applies in that venue, meaning the plaintiffs must prove it is more likely true than not true. That’s in contrast to the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for criminal cases.

As MinistryWatch reported in December 2024, Olivet’s state approval to operate was previously revoked by the California Department of Consumer Affairs Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE), citing deficiencies in faculty and instruction. The order also requires the school to pay $64,432 to cover the costs of the investigation and prosecution.

The university is appealing that decision, according to Olivet President Jonathan Park. “The BPPE’s investigation stemmed from Newsweek’s false human trafficking allegations, not from any student or consumer complaints,” Park said. “While the appeal is in process, Olivet continues to operate under a religious exemption that has been officially verified by BPPE.”

In 2018, a Manhattan district attorney indicted Jang-related entities for fraudulently acquiring bank loans worth millions of dollars and using that money to fund The Christian Post and other companies, using fake financial audits.

Christian Media Corporation International’s former CEO William Anderson pleaded guilty to money laundering in the second degree and to participating in a scheme to defraud in the first degree, according to a summary order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2^nd Circuit.

Olivet, proceeding through its counsel as authorized by its Board of Trustees, pleaded guilty on February 11, 2020, to felony falsification of business records in the first degree and a lesser included charge of Count 3 of the indictment, specifically, conspiracy in the fifth degree, a misdemeanor, the same 2^nd Circuit court documents stated.

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