Online attacks and Luigi Mangione-inspired death threats in ugly brawl to build California AI megaproject | Latest Tech News
A vicious online assault — allegedly put into movement by a California nonprofit — to torpedo the construction of a huge AI data heart led to calls for “public executions” and Luigi Mangione-inspired death threats, according to a new lawsuit.
The defamation lawsuit, filed by Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing and its attorney, Sebastian Rucci, claims nonprofit Comite Civico del Valle (CCV) and the group’s government director, Jose Luis Olmedo Velez, try to stall the data heart project in a bid to drive a financial settlement.
Illustration of Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing’s proposed AI data heart in Imperial, CA. Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing
NIMBY protesters exhibit against a proposed data heart in Imperial, CA. Facebook/NIMBY, Imperial
The group also employed Jake Tison to allegedly create a brutal online marketing campaign, “publishing over 100 false and defamatory posts and videos across social media platforms” in an effort to make IVCM and Rucci look dangerous, according to the lawsuit.
Tison’s purported online posts called Rucci a “life-long fraud” and accused him of violating the California Environmental Quality Act, a statute that has grow to be infamous for being leveraged to gum up development tasks across the state, court paperwork obtained by The California Post said.
The swimsuit alleges Tison unfold false posts that Rucci had been thrown in jail for fraud. In actuality, Rucci did spend a month in jail but for a misdemeanor liquor license violation, not fraud, according to the swimsuit.
Tison’s alleged online attacks then spiraled into one thing more violent and harmful when his followers started to read his posts, according to Rucci and IVCM.
Superior Court of California
Superior Court of California
The lawsuit alleges Tison’s followers commented issues like “public executions” and threatened to “burn the data center to the ground.” “Why can’t somebody just get him like Luigi did with the UntiedHealthcare CEO,” another wrote.
CC presents itself as an environmental justice nonprofit, but has “perfected a lucrative greenmail extortion racket: it files CEQA challenges to delay projects, then demands massive “public benefit” settlements that it alone controls,” according to the paperwork.
“Defendants also engaged in environmental terrorism by intimidating Imperial County Supervisors with threats of “slaughter at the voting booth” and putting their pictures on milk cartons to coerce denial of a ministerial lot merger,” according to the paperwork.
Sebastian Rucci of Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing Sebastian Rucci
Rucci’s lawsuit is the latest salvo in the livid battle to build the state’s largest artificial intelligence data provider. Google is in line to grow to be the tenant of the data goliath ought to the project get constructed, according to written communications reviewed by The Post. A Google spokesperson said the company isn’t concerned with the project.
“The ultimate tenant will surface when the environmental terrorists, and their hired-thug propagandists, are forced to scatter like cockroaches after being exposed for their actions,” Rucci said in an interview with The Post. “They are extortionists, not environmentalists.”
Douglas Carstens, an attorney for CCV, said in a assertion: “This lawsuit is meritless and its foundational claims lack a factual basis. The intention of this lawsuit should be questioned by all who value transparency, community voice, and the fundamental right of organizations to engage in good-faith policy advocacy on issues affecting the health, environment, and future of the Imperial Valley. CCV has worked tirelessly to ensure communities are protected from the environmental harms that proposed projects can bring, and those efforts should not be misconstrued.”
NIMBY protesters against a proposed data heart. Facebook/NIMBY, Imperial
Rucci said he has the abdomen to take on the activists but it’s a drag on time and assets. He said onerous state laws can simply be hijacked to make building close to inconceivable.
The Imperial county project demonstrates the challenges of building large data facilities in California, despite the state being the technology capital of the world. Khara Boender, who lobbies on behalf of data heart development for the Data Center Coalition, said builders are more and more contemplating shifting potential tasks out of state because of the robust regulatory setting.
Superior Court of California
Superior Court of California
Rucci’s company, Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, says the $10 billion project will create jobs and generate $28.75 million in annual property tax income.
The project has already featured a headspinning quantity of drama since it was proposed in 2024: The metropolis of Imperial has sued the county, arguing the project shouldn’t have obtained an exemption from California Environmental Quality Act. Rucci then sued the town earlier this 12 months, in addition to now suing the activists who oppose the project.
Last month, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors held a assembly to solicit suggestions from residents and permit Rucci to strive to heat them up. The assembly ended, according to Rucci, with him having to evacuate because tensions involving residents and activists almost boiled over as protestors chanted “We don’t care! It’s hot air!”
In written feedback posted by the county, residents cite a litany of considerations about the project, including the health impacts on close by neighborhoods, potential utility price hikes and the environmental pressure of building a water intensive data heart in a desert. Data facilities use large quantities of water to cool gear.
Attorney Alene Taber, representing the town of Imperial, said in an interview that the developer and county have tried to skirt procedures and laws in an attempt to fast observe the project.
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