If it was slander or libel, Hotz would have a case. If he doesn't have a case, it probably isn't.

This more or less goes hand in hand with the more creative individuals who want to imply if not outright falsely accuse (libel) SCE of somehow cooking up false information regarding whether Hotz actually had a PSN account or not.

Offhand, I'm a bit more inclined to go with whatever the SCE legal team dug up during their investigation than with Opinion of Random Guy at Keyboard on the Internet. If they had to resort to fabricated or falsely produced information, it wouldn't be hard to point out the inconsistencies which would not only compromise their case, but make them liable for a countersuit.

His lawyer defends him? Who would have thought?

Not that I know anything about this case at all. He's either fled or he hasn't and we'll find out eventually.

IT TOTALLY REQUIRED CAPITAL LETTERS TO TELL US SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN DONE IN OVER 3 THREADS NOW.

oops, I used caps SORRY!

Good thing its just Sony.  If Geohotz 'fleed' from like the mafia you can guarentee they wont take it as lightly as Sony regardless if its just a 'vacation trip' lol

NO HE DID NOT. HE SIMPLY DIDN'T SEND THE CONTROLLER CARD.

YOU KNOW, LIKE A RAID CARD. HE DID -NOT- STRIP DOWN THE HARD DRIVES TO THEIR PLATTERS DON'T BE SO STUPID.

you're aware that this is directed at the "fleeing to SA" right? nothing to do with the PSN account ^^

"Also he is in south armerica, obviously this isn't illegal as its a civil case - but how did you expect SONY to respond? "

its funny, this guy was asking for donations to fight against Sony, then he takes the money and goes to spend it in a spring break vacation. Feeling sorry for all who donated for Geo's have fun party in south america.

So they lied, big deal. Sue them

This. And also about the whole case, I normally tend to support Sony, but not this time: Sony has every right to fight piracy and enforce respect of rules on its network, but it hasn't the right to limit the freedom of honest users on the devices they bought. If somebody hacks his PS3, Sony has the right to not accept the hacked console in its network, and nothing else. If somebody uses a tool that has also legit uses to pirate, Sony has the right sue the pirates, not who made the tool. BTW, Sony clearly didn't go as far as MS feared with PS3, but if it ever wishes to make PS4 or PS5 become a PC replacement, it will have to accept a far greater users control on their HW than what they have with the current gen consoles. And basic rules of informatic security teach that the client must never be considered secure by the server, so blaming GeoHot or any other jalbreaker for such security design flaws is plain stupid and totally lacking the necessary level of self-criticism to handle that issue. Sony is king of HW and entertainment, but it must grow up in other fields.

so was it Sony who started this rumour?