UK-based leisure company 10 Group has sued at least 10 of its own shareholders for defamation, according to FT.com. It appears that the AIM-listed company began legal proceedings after a group of shareholders posted negative comments about chairman Andy Moore in an on-line chat room. 7ML

According to FT.com, 10 Group filed the lawsuits after it obtained a High Court order forcing Advanced Financial Network, host of the chat room, to disclose shareholders’ details. The company alleges that the messages, posted in the chat room after its shares lost most of their value, contained untrue statements causing “significant losses”. It is seeking compensation.

FT.com reports that Advanced Financial Network declined an initial request to hand over the names and addresses of 30 shareholders, however it was eventually ordered to disclose 20 names.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.