During the first weeks of 2012, Dr. Hubert O’Neal began preparing a lawsuit against the company behind Virgin Islands News Online, a website that the ophthalmologist believed had defamed him in a Dec. 15, 2011 article.

On Jan. 26, 2012, 20 days before Dr. O’Neal’s lawsuit was filed, VINO announced a recent addition to the staff of its parent company, Advance Marketing and Professional Services: a Canadian named John E. Leonard, who VINO claimed had served as the AMPS general manager and marketing executive since 2011.

In the nearly three years since that announcement, criticisms against VINO have mounted, and the news site’s responses often have been attributed to Mr. Leonard.

Besides Dr. O’Neal, government ministers Mark Vanterpool and Myron Walwyn, First Lady Lorna Smith, and other business and community leaders have publicly admonished the site, alleging shoddy journalistic practices.

At least one of them has gone so far as to question Mr. Leonard’s very existence.

John E. Leonard

Mr. Leonard, who is currently listed on the news site as VINO’s general manager and marketing executive, has been quoted in VINO press releases defending the site’s actions since 2012.

But questions have persisted about his role with the site, as well as what involvement AMPS owner Julian Willock has in VINO’s day-to-day operations.

Mr. Leonard, the site has often claimed, is reportedly based in Canada. But a series of efforts made by this newspaper since 2012 to obtain an in-person or telephone interview with him to clarify questions and criticisms made about the news site have been unsuccessful to date.

In a Tuesday interview, Mr. Willock’s attorney, Jamal Smith, said that to his knowledge Messrs. Willock and Leonard aren’t involved in writing VINO’s articles.

“There’s a marketing aspect of the organisation and the journalism aspect,” the lawyer said. “As far as I’m aware, neither Mr. Willock nor Mr. Leonard have any involvement with the journalistic aspect of the business.”

But others aren’t so sure.

House debate

During a lengthy House of Assembly debate about government’s cruise ship development project on July 29, Mr. Vanterpool, the minister of communications and works, said that VINO was “out of order” for allegedly asserting without proof that he was corrupt.

He addressed Mr. Leonard directly, accusing him of irresponsibly running “a newspaper based on what some people say without verifying anything.”

“A newspaper whose editor we can’t find. Deceased. John Leonard. Editor, come forward man, stop hiding behind John Leonard name,” he said in a lengthy tirade against VINO.

During his speech, he referred to VINO’s management but did not name Mr. Willock.

“You’re hiding behind the blogs. You’re hiding behind a newspaper that the editor nowhere exists. You can’t find him to sue him. John Leonard, God bless him, may rest in peace. If you’re an editor come forward. You need to be sued. Stand up for what you’re writing.”

The next day, a story appeared on VINO without a reporter’s byline that called Mr. Vanterpool a “desperate disgrace” for his comments.

“Mr. Vanterpool has never met our Marketing Manager Mr. John E. Leonard, who has been with the company now for three years and operates from overseas,” the article stated. “Therefore, it was sad and most unfortunate for Mr. Vanterpool to attack Mr. Leonard without due cause.”

Lorna Smith

A few weeks earlier, in an “open letter to Mr. Julian Willock,” Ms. Smith, the first lady, stated on her husband’s Facebook page that she too questioned who was writing VINO’s articles.

She was responding to an article posted on the site earlier that day titled “Is Lorna Smith wife of Premier a Gov’t consultant?,” which raised questions about her involvement with government’s International Finance Centre.

“I have nothing to hide and I will not allow you and your malicious associates to vilify me, hiding behind the pseudonyms as you did while I was thousands of miles away in Hong Kong,” she wrote in the July 10 letter, which did not mention Mr. Leonard.

That message prompted the site to defend itself in another un-bylined response, which referred to Mr. Willock as the board chairman for AMPS.

“Yes we do have some four reporters employed! In fact for the past 4 plus years of the site’s operation Mr. Willock has never written a story, notwithstanding that from time to time he will pass on information given to him by the public to the newsroom,” the article stated.

Lawyer’s view

Asked to respond to questions about Mr. Leonard, Mr. Smith, AMPS’ attorney, said that he wasn’t in a position to discuss the allegations.

“I cannot comment,” the lawyer said. “That is something that Mr. Willock will have to address personally.”

Citing attorney-client privilege, Mr. Smith declined to say if he himself had met Mr. Leonard.

“I have seen a passport for Mr. Leonard as part of my client opening procedures, which is required as part of Know Your Client procedures, for anti-money laundering purposes,” the lawyer said.

He deferred further questions to Mr. Willock, who, like Mr. Leonard, did not respond to requests for comment.

Willock’s involvement

Questions have been raised previously about the involvement of Mr. Willock — who from 2010 until his 2012 dismissal from the public service served as permanent secretary for the Ministry of Communications and Works — with VINO’s operations.

In July 2010, following the publication of a Beacon article that reported some expatriate VINO reporters’ claims to have worked without work permits, then-Governor David Pearey announced that Mr. Willock would be sent on paid leave while the matter was investigated.

Some of the reporters told the Beacon in 2010 that Mr. Willock was intimately involved with the site’s daily affairs and sometimes held VINO-related meetings in his government office.

The government investigation stalled after Mr. Willock successfully sued: A judge ruled in 2011 that the governor had exceeded his legal authority when he set up the three-member investigative committee.

The attorney general appealed that decision, and the case languished for nearly three years on the court’s docket before the AG dropped the appeal this year following Mr. Willock’s dismissal from the civil service in October 2012 for reasons that were not disclosed publicly.

During that time, the Beacon wrote multiple e-mails to Mr. Willock at his personal and company addresses requesting comment. Mr. Willock typically did not respond, but responses often came back signed by Mr. Leonard.

Beacon requests

The Beacon also has been requesting phone or in-person interviews with Mr. Leonard since March 2012, when the newspaper initially covered the defamation lawsuit. A March 27, 2012 e-mail sent to Mr. Willock at julianwillock@hotmail.com and adsvino@gmail.com drew a response signed by Mr. Leonard, who said he would answer questions via e-mail.

“Please refrain from ever again E-mailing Mr. Willock on anything to do with Virgin Islands News Online. Currently, I am overseas and will invite your E-mail questions, up until 10 pm tonight,” he wrote.

In such cases, this newspaper does not typically conduct interviews via e-mail, a fact that was conveyed to Messrs. Leonard and Willock. Neither man took up the Beacon’s offer of a phone or in-person interview.

Further e-mails

About six months later, this reporter again wrote to Mr. Willock at the aforementioned e-mail addresses while reporting on his ongoing dispute with government. Mr. Leonard responded in an Oct. 2, 2012 e-mail but did not agree to be interviewed.

“Why would I comment on a court matter that has nothing to do with me???? Further, I was advised by current and former workers that you have been harassing them in regards to my employment with Advance Marketing, please explain why my employment is of issue to you or your organization? Finally, please stop sending me emails for Mr. Willock as this is not his Email address or am I his messenger!  John,” the response stated.

During the course of reporting on Mr. Willock’s government lawsuit, this reporter wrote again to Mr. Willock at both e-mail addresses on May 7, 2013 to give him the opportunity to comment on the article, and Mr. Leonard responded again.

“I only am hired to deal with official duties (marketing and management) for the online news site, not any of Mr. Willock’s private and personal matters. You continue to disrespect me and what one attorney have told me could be regarded as cyber harassment, as per the laws of Canada which is a criminal offence. I will be making a formal complaint with the authorities here, as well as those in the British Virgin Islands. John,” the e-mail stated.

The Beacon has received no notification of any such complaints.

Testy exchanges

Subsequent e-mail messages signed by Mr. Leonard have been laced with invective and profanity.

“Why the heck/hell you continue to write me with information for Mr. Willock? It’s clear you have his email address and phone number, which I have provided on more than one occasion?  I find this to be very racist!!!! John,” he wrote on Sept. 18, 2013 when adsvino@gmail.com was copied on an e-mail addressed to Mr. Willock about government’s appeal of his 2011 legal victory.

Mr. Leonard’s Jan. 15, 2014 response to another request for comment from Mr. Willock was copied to Beacon Publisher Russell Harrigan.

“Why the [expletive] would you be sending me an email for mr. willock you [expletive] racist [expletive],” stated the e-mail signed by Mr. Leonard.

Requests for comment for this week’s article on the 2012 defamation lawsuit to the two e-mail addresses were forwarded to Mr. Smith, the attorney, who granted an interview about the case.