IBT Media Sues Former CEO Dev Pragad and Newsweek Executives for $200M

IBT Media Inc., the digital publisher that owned Newsweek, has filed a sweeping lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court accusing its former chief executive officer, Dev Pragad, and a group of top executives of orchestrating what it describes as a calculated act of betrayal that hollowed out the company and transferred its most valuable assets to a venture controlled by Pragad.

The complaint, filed in Westchester County, seeks at least $200 million in damages, along with punitive damages and legal fees. It alleges that Dev Pragad, together with former senior executives Alvaro Palacios, Dayan Candappa, Leiann Kaytmaz, Amit Shah, and Nancy Cooper, breached their fiduciary duties and misled IBT's leadership through a series of fraudulent misrepresentations in order to facilitate the spinoff of Newsweek.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of stripping IBT of nearly all its resources and shifting them to Newsweek during Dev Pragad's tenure as CEO of both companies in 2017 and 2018. Entire editorial teams in the United States, the United Kingdom, and India were allegedly moved away. IBT's proprietary technology, including its content management system and advertising platforms, was transferred. Established business relationships were redirected. What remained, the complaint contends, was a company weighed down with more than $10 million in tax, rent, and vendor obligations and reduced to little more than a corporate shell.

A Financial Illustration of Alleged Corporate Theft: IBT Media and Newsweek Revenues by year from Exhibit 3 of Westchester County Lawsuit Index 62346/2025 filed by IBT Media against Dev Pragad, Alvaro Palacios, Dayan Candappa, Leiann Kaytmaz, Amit Shah, and Nancy Cooper. Dev Pragad is accused of bagging IBT Assets during his tenure as CEO of both entities in 2017 and 2018.

According to the filing, IBT's unraveling began in 2018 when Pragad, then serving as CEO, orchestrated the transfer of Newsweek into a new holding company under his control. To secure board approval, Pragad allegedly fabricated conversations with prosecutors at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, falsely claiming that authorities wanted him to take ownership of Newsweek while the company's chairman was under investigation. IBT's board, under duress and relying on what it now claims was false information, approved the deal. The company later learned that no such directive ever came from the Manhattan DA.

IBT asserts that the defendants' actions amounted to both fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. The company maintains that it reasonably relied on the executives' assurances that the spinoff would benefit IBT, only to discover that the plan was designed to enrich the former leadership at IBT's expense. It argues that the alleged deception left the company struggling to rebuild itself almost from scratch while fueling the growth of Newsweek, which was simultaneously used to undermine IBT.

In addition to damages of no less than $200 million, IBT is seeking punitive damages, attorneys' fees, and interest. The case has been filed with a demand for a jury trial.

This lawsuit arrives just weeks after an IBT article detailing two separate lawsuits by twelve original Newsweek co-owners who accused Dev Pragad of orchestrating a deceptive takeover. That earlier complaint alleged Pragad reneged on a joint-venture agreement, enriched himself with lavish expenditures ranging from a $3.3 million mansion to luxury goods, and aggressively sidelined founding partners.

IBT Media, founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York, rose quickly in the digital publishing industry and acquired Newsweek in 2013 from The Daily Beast. The relationship between the two brands has been marked by financial turmoil and disputes over control, culminating in the current lawsuit. Pragad, who now serves as publisher of Newsweek, has not yet filed a response.

Disclaimer: International Business Times is owned by IBT Media Inc., the plaintiff in this case.