Former Auction Alliance owner Rael Levitt has come under the spotlight again.
Levitt, who was found guilty by the Consumer Commission of ghost bidding in 2012, is still being investigated for fraud and corruption by the Hawks.
Last week Fiona Forde, a journalist who broke the 2012 story, sent him new questions on Auction Alliance for work that she was doing for a nonprofit organisation.
Within 24 hours a Facebook group was set up by a fictitious character and is now being investigated for its defamatory content aimed at Forde.
Levitt denied any involvement with the page, but said: "Surely social media should be a forum to question, disagree or debate issues? I am surprised at Forde’s indignation."
Forde, however, could not "debate" the issue as she was blocked from the site.
According to Business Day editor Tim Cohen, who published the stories on Auction Alliance, Forde has had threats over the years from Levitt and his associates.
"Forde has had a long and painful history of being hounded and tormented by fake e-mails, all in connection with the Auction Alliance stories," he said, adding that "the stories were drawn directly from a report produced but suppressed by the now defunct Auction Alliance group itself".
He said: "We went to court to get the document published and won."
Cohen called on those added to the group without their knowledge to leave it, and said: "I would also plead with Facebook to respond to our calls to close the group."
William Bird, head of Media Monitoring Africa, said the group made allegations against Forde but provided "no evidence" to back them up.
• This article first appeared in The Times.
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