Among the many claims in Dr. St. Claire’s defamation lawsuit against Black Star News and me is that I falsely reported that he was being investigated by Meridian Township Police in Okemos, MI, based on allegations by his wife Cassandra Fameux that he posioned her for nine years with antipsychotic drugs. That investigation led to a recommendaiton by police that he be criminally prosecuted, even though the DA declined. Dr. St. Claire also claimed I defamed him by falsely reporting that he was having an affair with a married nurse at the University of Michigan Health Sparrow during the period his wife told police he and Dr. Dominic Barberio were drugging her. This is the video evidence I provided my lawyers in my answer to Dr. St. Claire’s amended complaint.
By Milton Allimadi
When the Ingham County 30th Judicial Circuit Court in Lansing, Michigan, scheduled a July 20, 2026 jury trial before Judge Morgan Cole in Dr. Paul Gregory St. Claire’s defamation lawsuit against me and Black Star News, I welcomed the opportunity.
After nearly two years of litigation, I was finally going to present the evidence behind my reporting before a jury.
That is how defamation cases should be decided. A jury should hear the evidence, examine the documents, assess the credibility of witnesses, and determine whether a journalist acted responsibly. I have never feared that process because I know the reporting I published was grounded in evidence.
Today, however, that opportunity is in jeopardy.
The court has granted Dr. St. Claire’s motion for a default judgment after my discovery responses were submitted two days after the court’s deadline, June 26, 2026 instead of June 24.
I have retained new counsel to deal with this matter because I believe this case deserves to be decided on its merits—not on a procedural technicality. The public should understand what is at stake and the importance of the First Amendment.
From the beginning, my reporting was based on allegations made by Cassandra Fameux, Dr. St. Claire’s former Haitian immigrant wife, who alleged that she was administered antipsychotic medications from 2014 through 2023 despite not suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. (From 2014 to 2017 she was allegedly drugged with Risperdal; 2017 to 2021 with Invega Sustenna; and 2021 to 2023 Abilify).
Those allegations were not published in isolation. They were investigated, documented, and supported by medical records, court filings, interviews, and later by a police investigation.
Ms. Fameux alleged that Dr. St. Claire’s colleague at the University of Michigan Health Sparrow psychiatrist Dr. Dominic Barberio misdiagnosed her as schizophrenic with bipolar disorder in 2014. Prior to that, medical records show that on December 16, 2014 another physician at the same hospital, Dr. John Maino, had diagnosed Ms. Fameux with anorexia, depression, anxiety attacks, insomnia, and microcytic anemia. There was no mention of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Ms. Fameux claimed for most of the years when she was injected with Invega Sustenna, no prescription was written and that the drug was retrieved from a storage cabinet in Dr. Barberio’s office. When police later interviewed Dr. Barberio he printed out only a summary of one visit showing that a presciption was written; that date was November 6, 2020, according to the police report. Yet, Ms. Fameux told police she was injected from 2017 to 2021.
Dr. St. Claire was terminated by the University of Michigan Health Sparrow on February 28, 2024. The hospital and Dr. St. Claire executed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) according to his divorce court testimony.
The Meridian Township Police Department investigated the same allegations that Dr. St. Claire claims were defamatory. On April 10, 2025, Det. Ian Mandernack recommended criminal domestic assault charges.
Ms. Fameux told police the side effects of the Invega Sustenna gave her a brain tumor, diabetes, a heart condition, and other ailments. “Cassandra advised that the continuous Invega injections is the reason the tumor and diabetes developed,” Officer Nathan Wicks of the Meridian Police Department wrote in the police report. “Cassandra had medical paperwork proving her claims.”
Ms. Fameux told Officer Wicks that the only time that Dr. Barberio himself ever injected her was when her husband was angry at her and phoned him to come to the marital home to inject her with Invega Sustenna as “punishment.” (Dr. Barberio and Dr. St. Claire denied any injection at home was to punish Ms. Fameux. Dr. St. Claire kept hand-written notes of a home visit on May 27, 2020 by Dr. Barberio).
Although the Ingham County Prosecutor ultimately declined to authorize criminal charges, I published the complete police report at the end of the article so readers could evaluate the evidence for themselves.
Ms. Fameux alleged Dr. St. Claire’s motive was to coerce her into signing a Judgment of Separate Maintenance (JOSM) on February 20, 2018–while under the influence of the drugs——that transferred all marital assets and the couple’s two homes to Dr. St. Claire.
I later reported and wrote an article on November 30, 2025 questioning the validity of the JOSM because the court had not appointed a Guardian Ad Litem for Ms. Fameux before she signed the agreement as required by law, having been declared incompetent in 2015.
I also reported on the apparent role played by divorce court judge Carol N. Koenig, Dr. St. Claire, and his divorce lawyer Jessica Larson in fabricating a GAL in order for Koenig to uphold the JOSM.
Judge Koenig, who handled the St. Claire’s divorce and apparently together with St. Claire and his divorce lawyer Ms. Larson fabricated a Guardian Ad Litem for Ms. Fameux.
I reported on May 12, 2026 that Ms. Larson parted ways with her law firm Mallory Lapka Scott and Selin.
Then I reported on May 23, 2026 that the entire firm shut down.
My reporting also relied on court testimony.
Three psychiatrists ultimately concluded that Ms. Fameux did not suffer from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. One of them, Dr. Rita Aouad, testified during the divorce trial that Ms. Fameux suffered from severe PTSD resulting from what she described as an abusive marriage. In fact during divorce deposition Ms. Fameux’s lawyer Timothy Young asked Dr. St. Claire about his own reported mental health diagnosis and he refused to answer the question according to the transcripts.
Ms. Fameux also provided police with an audio recording she secretly made in September 2023 in which Dr. Dominic Barberio acknowledged that she was not schizophrenic. At trial, Dr. Barberio testified that he made those statements merely to “placate” her. That contradiction is part of the public court record.
Additional testimony raised further questions.
University of Michigan medical records that I reviewed identify Dr. Barberio as the physician administering Ms. Fameux’s monthly Invega Sustenna injections between 2017 and 2021. Yet during the divorce trial, Dr. Barberio testified that Dr. St. Claire personally administered approximately 90 percent of those injections while the remaining injections were given by his nursing staff.
I filed a FOIA request with the University of Michigan Health Sparrow on October 15, 2025 and paid the requested $25 fee and still await for the information. The university has given me six dates over the past several months and when that date arrives it sets another future date.
These are precisely the kinds of factual issues that juries are asked to evaluate.
Dr. St. Claire’s complaint also alleges that I falsely reported he had an affair with a married University of Michigan nurse. Yet during his divorce testimony, Dr. St. Claire acknowledged that relationship. In addition, I reported that I reviewed video evidence supporting my reporting of the allegations and provided a copy to my lawyers as one of the exhibits in my answer to Dr. St. Claire’s amended complaint.
Dr. St. Claire also claims I falsely reported that he was under police investigation. The police investigation is not in dispute. It culminated in detectives recommending criminal charges on April 10, 2025, as already mentioned.
Dr. St. Claire further alleges that I falsely reported an investigation by Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). Yet a LARA investigator Norm Naimy interviewed me on October 4, 2024 during that investigation and said my reporting confirmed his findings, and Community Mental Health records document that Ms. Fameux’s social worker Linda Wenzel recorded information she said she received from LARA confirming that Dr. St. Claire altered Ms. Fameux’s medical records.
Indeed, in his divorce testimony Dr. St. Claire himself said he was forced to resign because the hospital said his wife reported that he had accessed her medical records without permission.
This is why I have consistently maintained that a jury—not a procedural ruling—should evaluate my reporting and the evidence I included as exhibits in my answer.
Separately, my discovery responses to interrogatory questions were submitted two days late under extraordinary circumstances. While preparing those responses, I discovered that years of Gmail correspondence with Jessica Larson, Dr. St. Claire’s divorce attorney, had disappeared from my account. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that my email correspondence with Dr. St. Claire’s attorney, Chris Newberg, had also been deleted.
I immediately reported the apparent data breach to the FBI on June 22, 2026, later visited FBI headquarters in New York on June 26, 2026 to file additional information, and also reported the matter to the New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch on June 29, 2026. I informed my attorneys and asked that the court be advised because the missing emails directly affected my ability to prepare discovery responses. Despite those circumstances, I completed and submitted a 73-page response on June 26, 2026.
One of the e-mails deleted was a letter I sent Dr. St. Claire’s defamation lawyer Newberg, on May 4, 2024—after I received his Demand Letter on May 1, 2024—in which I offered to interview Dr. St. Claire to give him an opportunity to set the record straight on the articles I had published. Newberg did not accept that offer but responded with litigation.
While Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio maintained they medicated Ms. Fameux with antipsychotic drugs because she was schizophrenic and had bipolar disorder, as I also reported the court record from Dr. St. Claire’s 2003 divorce from his second wife, the late Dr. Marcy Street, also show that Nan Elizabeth Casey, the lawyer who represented Dr. Street raised questions about his own mental health.
During the 2003 divorce, attorney Casey, in court papers stated: “Testimony will also be presented showing that defendant St. Claire was in a mental institution for over three weeks some years ago. His behavior is not only bizarre but inappropriate.”
The court record also includes a sworn affidavit dated December 4, 2003, from the couple’s housekeeper, Shelley Van Epps, describing what she characterized as “bizarre” and “frightening” behavior.
According to the affidavit, on November 13, 2003, while working at the couple’s home, “Dr. St. Claire was eating cat food and swigging wine from a gallon jug. This occurred at approximately 11 a.m.” Ms. Van Epps further stated that Dr. St. Claire asked her numerous personal questions, including, “Does your husband rub your clitoris, I mean back?” She also alleged that he repeatedly told her he was “horny,” asked whether she was “horny,” and asked whether her husband would ever kill her and her children.
She concluded her affidavit: “I was frightened by his behavior which I found bizarre and unexplainable… That I called Dr. Street and explained what had happened for reason that I was fearful of his behavior and afraid for Dr. Street and her children.”
These are from court documents available to any journalist.
Shelley van Epps affidavit.
More than two decades later, during Dr. St. Claire’s October 2, 2024 deposition in his divorce from Cassandra Fameux, Ms. Fameux’s attorney, Timothy Young, questioned him about Ms. Van Epps’ affidavit.
Over the objection of his attorney, Ms. Larson, Dr. St. Claire testified, according to the deposition transcript: “Yeah, but anyhow, I remember her saying that I ate dog food. I don’t deny that I tried dog food a couple times, a little piece of it, and when she asked me why, I said because I’m hungry, and maybe what she thought I said was that ‘I’m horny.’ I’d joke and say ‘hungry,’ but she might interpret it as ‘horny.’ Yes, sir, I have tried my dog food to see what it tastes like, a little pellet. I don’t deny that. I don’t eat it for lunch.” Ms. Van Epps’ December 4, 2003 affidavit did refer to cat food—not dog food.
I remain confident that this case belongs before a jury.
Journalists should be judged on the evidence supporting their reporting. In this case, that evidence includes medical records, police investigative findings, sworn testimony, audio recordings, court filings, and contemporaneous documents. I have always welcomed judicial scrutiny of that evidence because it demonstrates that my reporting was neither reckless nor fabricated.
I intend to continue fighting to have this case heard on its merits.
I understand that with the intervention of law enforcement agencies—such as the FBI or NYPD—or a court order, Google can actually recover e-mails that have been deleted and can also potential trace the source of the breach. The deleted information will assist in my defense and could also pave the way for criminal proceedings if those responsible can be identified.
To everyone who has followed my reporting since 2023, thank you for your support. I am asking for your continued help as I seek to overturn the default judgment and restore this case to a jury trial. Contributions to my legal defense fund will help cover appellate filings, legal representation, court costs, and travel expenses to Michigan associated with the litigation. Black Star News is based in New York City.
Independent investigative journalism depends not only on reporters willing to pursue difficult stories, but also on readers willing to defend the principle that truthful reporting should be tested by evidence—not silenced by procedural obstacles.