Lorenzo Iorio and Ignazio Ciufolini have sparred for more than 20 years over claims of plagiarism, sock puppetry and defamation. After two criminal lawsuits against Iorio failed, Ciufolini took the spat to civil court where the Court of Rieti on April 15, 2026 ordered Iorio to pay Ciufolini €15,000 for defaming Ciufolini in blogs and online journals.

The beef between the two goes back to at least 2004 when Iorio accused Ciufolini of plagiarizing him in a Nature letter that addressed Einstein’s theory of general relativity as it relates to Earth-orbiting satellites. Iorio later levied critical comments on articles about Ciufolini on the Science website, on Neuroskeptic and on the website of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Ciufolini sued Iorio twice in criminal court for defamation in 2011 and again in 2014. Iorio was acquitted in both suits.

In addition to the €15,000.00 in civil damages, Tosi ordered Iorio to reimburse Ciufolini for litigation costs totaling €545.00 and €5,077.00 for professional fees.

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2026/05/19/feud-between-physicists-ends-in-defamation-verdict/

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