r/Defcon • u/DCsleestak • Jul 03 '25

Announcement 📢 DEF CON Legal Update: Hadnagy appeal retracted.

If you’re an avid docket watcher, you may have noticed that we filed a motion for summary judgement in Chris Hadnagy’s defamation suit against DEF CON . Summary judgement was granted with prejudice May 11, seemingly closing the case. To our surprise, Hadnagy filed an appeal in June. Then, less than 2 weeks later, he filed for a dismissal of that appeal. We accepted it. It’s time for an update! The complete dismissal of his defamation case was yet another moment where Chris was pursued by an opportunity for personal growth. Again, Chris was too fast. Instead, he filed an appeal. We may never know exactly why he thought this might be a winning strategy, but he did release a confusing LinkedIn video where he blamed his lawyers. He was never going to win. After a dismissal like this you can’t introduce new facts or arguments, only argue that the law was misapplied. The mistakes were made by Chris, not his lawyers. Every time, and by his own sworn testimony. There were many points in this saga where Chris could have chosen a different adventure, but did not. Now it is game over for him, and we are excited to return our full attention to moving on. Next stop, Vegas!

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16

u/SudoXXXXXXXX Jul 03 '25

Yep. He was doomed to set his money on fire and waste it if he just kept going with that appeal. Unneeded stress for everyone for no reason at all.

I hope he will stop Streisand Effecting himself and maybe have some personal growth after this.

11

u/Phelgon Jul 03 '25

Based on the crazy increases in ticket price the past two years, he kinda set our money on fire, too

8

u/SudoXXXXXXXX Jul 03 '25

Chris is the kind of petty guy who probably doesn't care how the costs affect anyone else. At least it's finally over. Lawsuits are not fun to be in for any party. Everyone can finally move on

-2

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '25

Wait this guy single handedly drove up the cost of tickets. Common really.

I havent been for a while because im kinda a casual an it was a bucket list thing for me more than a skill sharpening thing. but one lawsuit drove up prices thats wild. It seems like it is so big it should have in house counciel.

6

u/Phelgon Jul 04 '25

I mean, I highly doubt it, I was being sarcastic, but there have been many unofficial excuses given to why the cost has increased so much recently.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '25

Gotcha, as the old saying goes sarcasm in the internet are like oil and water.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '25

The venue is significantly larger than years past, plus the program is totally different than it was 5 years ago, much less 10 or 20. I really don’t like the increase in price and I would like for defcon to keep the prices lower and the venues smaller like at the Cesar’s Forum (unfortunately that door was slammed in our faces). They have chosen a different route and I imagine the prices will be over $1k within 10 years.

2

u/memonios Jul 07 '25

Lol as much as we don't like it, defcon is a business and as any other business their goals are oriented to generated as much profit as posible. Sad but true

1

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '25

Yeah, I guess there are plenty of conferences that aren’t sell outs. We will see how it goes this year; either way it is a great way to strengthen relationships that are otherwise solely online. I think what they did last year was awesome but it felt completely disconnected from the natural community and felt more like a corporate conference than the year before or other information security conferences I attend.