Federal marshals seize KPFA assets to pay defamation judgment against its New York sister station

This week US Marshals seized more than $300,000 of KPFA’s cash reserves to pay for a monetary judgment for its parent organization the Pacifica Foundation. The asset seizure resulted from a defamation lawsuit by a former interim executive director of Pacifica, John Vernile in 2019 against programmers of its New York station, WBAI. Pacifica lawyers filed an appeal today to block the judgment. But KPFA is now facing layoffs and a massive budget shortfall. KPFA’s Corinne Smith has more. Continued