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George Zimmerman has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Trayvon Martins family six years after he was acquitted of killing the unarmed black teen in Florida.

The former neighborhood watch volunteer accuses Trayvons mother, prosecutors and others of conspiring to concoct a false narrative through imposter and fake witness Rachel Jeantel, who was on the phone with the teen just before he was shot.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in Polk County court in Florida where Zimmerman lives, also cites the documentary The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud that Divided America, which makes similar accusations against the Martin family.

Because of the arrest, charges, prosecution and federal investigation, Zimmerman lives in constant fear of physical harm due to regular death threats, which often are expressed in rap music as well as online social media commentary, the suit says.

Zimmerman was charged with murder after fatally shooting Trayvon, 17, in Sanford, Florida, in February 2012. A jury acquitted him a year later, buying into his claim that he fired in self-defense after the teen attacked him.

Prosecutors maintained that the shooting was unjustified that Travyon was unarmed and carrying a drink and Skittles when he was gunned down.

Zimmermans suit lists Trayvons mother, Sybrina Fulton, as one of the many defendants. Fulton, who was thrust into the national spotlight following her sons death, is running for a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission.

He is also suing Ben Crump, the lawyer who represented the Martin family, for defamation and book publisher HarperCollins for releasing Crumps book Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People.

I have every confidence that this unfounded and reckless lawsuit will be revealed for what it is another failed attempt to defend the indefensible and a shameless attempt to profit off the lives and grief of others, Crump said in a statement Wednesday to the Miami Herald.

Zimmerman is represented by Larry Klayman, founder of conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.

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George Zimmerman files lawsuit against Trayvon Martin family

"This tale defies logic," Trayvon Martin's family said on Wednesday after George Zimmerman filed a lawsuit against the family. Sybrina Fulton, mother of Martin, is seen here delivering a speech in 2017. Paras Griffin/Getty Images hide caption

"This tale defies logic," Trayvon Martin's family said on Wednesday after George Zimmerman filed a lawsuit against the family. Sybrina Fulton, mother of Martin, is seen here delivering a speech in 2017.

George Zimmerman is suing the family of the teenager he shot nearly eight years ago, seeking more than $100 million from Trayvon Martin's parents, their attorney and others. Zimmerman claims he was the victim of a conspiracy, along with malicious prosecution and defamation.

Martin's family has responded with a statement saying there's no evidence to back Zimmerman's contentions that he was the victim of a conspiracy.

Zimmerman was acquitted on all charges related to his shooting of Martin, who was 17 and unarmed when Zimmerman shot and killed him in a gated Florida community where Martin's father lived. Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense during a scuffle. Zimmerman had faced charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the case, which also shed light on Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law.

Zimmerman and his lawyer, the controversial attorney Larry Klayman, allege that Rachel Jeantel, a key witness for the prosecution who testified about being on the phone with Martin just before the shooting, was an impostor. They accuse her of standing in for another teenager, Brittany Diamond Eugene, whom the suit describes as Jeantel's half sister who did not want to testify in the case.

In the lawsuit filed in Florida state court, Zimmerman and Klayman allege defamation by Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump. Their suit also names Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, along with Jeantel and Eugene. Also included: several Florida prosecutors, the state of Florida and its law enforcement department and HarperCollins, which recently published Open Season, Crump's book about violence toward black people.

Responding to the lawsuit, Crump's office released a joint statement in which the attorney and Martin's parents said:

"I have every confidence that this unfounded and reckless lawsuit will be revealed for what it is another failed attempt to defend the indefensible and a shameless attempt to profit off the lives and grief of others."

Accusing Zimmerman of "revictimizing individuals whose lives were shattered by his own misguided actions," Crump, Fulton and Martin said there is no credible proof to back Zimmerman's claims.

"This tale defies logic," they said, "and it's time to close the door on these baseless imaginings."

Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch whose other clients include the conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, made headlines this year when a legal ethics panel recommended that he be suspended for misconduct regarding his actions toward a female client who had refused to enter into a romantic relationship with him.

As he unveiled Zimmerman's new lawsuit on Wednesday, Klayman said he would hold a news conference about the case on Thursday. That session will be held at a movie theater; Klayman is inviting journalists to view a new documentary about the Martin case that centers on the lawsuit's allegations.

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George Zimmerman Sues Trayvon Martin's Family For More Than ...

George Zimmerman has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the family of Trayvon Martin, one of their lawyers Ben Crump, several prosecutors, a book publisher and more for malicious prosecution, defamation, conspiracy, and abuse of process. Zimmerman was previously acquitted on homicide charges in 2013 for the fatal shooting of Martin; he claimed he was acting in self-defense.

Zimmerman is being represented by Larry Klayman, a conservative attorney who founded the right-wing activist group Judicial Watch. The suit accuses the various defendants of violating Zimmermans constitutional rights and claims it is based on facts recently discovered in a new book and film called The Trayvon Hoax, by Joel Gilbert, a noted conspiracy theorist whos pushed unfounded claims about Barack Obama, Paul McCartney, and Elvis, and appeared regularly on Alex Jones InfoWars.

Pulling from the book, the suit alleges that Martins mother and father, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, as well as Crump and several Florida prosecutors pushed a false narrative about the night that Martin was killed.Specifically, it alleges that witness Rachel Jeantel lied about being on the phone with Martin when the incident took place and that she provided false statements to incriminate Zimmerman based on coaching from others.

The suit goes on to claim that it wasnt Jeantel on the phone with Martin that night, but rather a Miami resident named Brittany Diamond Eugene who was switched out for Jeantel when Eugene refused to bear false witness against Zimmerman.

The suit also accuses Crump of making false statements about Zimmerman in his new book, Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People. It alleges that because of Crumps ties to the the Martin case, the title of the book is reasonably understood to refer to Zimmerman, creating the false implication that [Zimerman] participated and participates in the genocide of colored people. It also takes semantic issues with a line in the book that states law enforcement told Zimmerman not to pursue Martin and stand down until police arrived, but he did so nevertheless. For one, the suit alleges Zimmerman was not talking to a law enforcement officer but a non-emergency dispatcher, while it also cites a record of the call that says Zimmerman responded okay when asked not to pursue Martin.

The lawsuit claims Crump made this claims and HarperCollins published them with actual malice in order to sell books and justify its absurd, inflammatory, racial charged book title that suggested Plaintiff Zimmerman was at the forefront of this genocide.

In a statement provided to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Crump said, I have every confidence that this unfounded and reckless lawsuit will be revealed for what it is another failed attempt to defend the indefensible and a shameless attempt to profit off the lives and grief of others.

Klayman did not immediately return Rolling Stones request for comment.

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George Zimmerman Sues Trayvon Martin's Family for $100 ...

By Zachary Fagenson

MIAMI (Reuters) - Former Florida volunteer community watchman George Zimmerman, whose 2012 killing of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin drew attention across the United States, sued Martin's family and lawyers on Wednesday, saying they used a fake witness against him.

Zimmerman is seeking at least $100 million in damages from Martin's parents, state prosecutors and two women, who are accused in a Polk County, Florida, lawsuit of helping provide false statements to investigators and during the trial, according to court papers.

On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman, who was then a neighborhood watch captain in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, fatally shot Martin after the teen's trip to a convenience store to buy snacks. The incident helped spark the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Zimmerman was arrested and charged. During the 2013 trial, prosecutors argued Zimmerman profiled, pursued and confronted the black youth. Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self defense and was found not guilty by a jury.

The lawsuit accuses Martin's parents and the family's attorney Benjamin Crump of orchestrating a campaign to force Brittany Diamond Eugene, 16, who was reportedly Martin's girlfriend, to make a recorded statement that implicated Zimmerman as the aggressor in the altercation with Martin.

Eugene was on the phone with Martin moments before the altercation with Zimmerman, the suit said.

The lawsuit also says that Eugene's half-sister Rachel Jeantel pretended to be Eugene when she was interviewed by prosecutors and provided false statements to incriminate Zimmerman based on coaching from others in court during his trial.

Crump said in a statement on behalf of himself and Martin's parents that he has confidence that the "unfounded and reckless" lawsuit will be revealed as "another failed attempt to defend the indefensible and a shameless attempt to profit off the lives and grief of others."

Martin's uncle, Ronald Fulton, 56, said the lawsuit was no more than a publicity stunt to promote a forthcoming documentary titled the "Trayvon Hoax" that alleges Jeantel was an impostor.

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"During the trial, most of the people they brought in were officers of Orange County, were they a hoax too?" he asked a Reuters reporter during a telephone interview.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Scott Malone, Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot)

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George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, sues ...

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer cleared of murdering an unarmed black teenager in one of Floridas most high-profile criminal cases, launched a $100m lawsuit on Wednesday against the dead boys family, their lawyer and prosecutors.

Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, 17, following a nighttime altercation between the two at his gated community in Sanford in February 2012. He was acquitted of second-degree murder in a closely watched trial that triggered a national debate over racial injustice, civil rights and gun violence.

In a 36-page lawsuit circulated by his lawyers, Zimmerman claims his reputation was destroyed by the malicious prosecution and alleges that the states attorney, Angela Corey, and her team of prosecutors relied on a witness who falsely claimed to be Martins girlfriend to testify against him.

He further alleges that Benjamin Crump, the civil rights attorney who has represented Martins parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, since their sons death, defames him in Crumps recent book Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People.

Evidence presented during Zimmermans trial included a recording of a call to the Sanford police department in which Zimmerman, now 36, said he was following Trayvon, who was on his way back to his fathers girlfriends house with Skittles and a soft drink he had just bought at a nearby gas station. OK, we dont need you to do that, a dispatcher told Zimmerman.

According to the lawsuit filed by the Boca Raton-based attorney Larry Klayman, founder of the conservative legal activist group Judicial Watch, his client now lives in constant fear of attack and often receives death threats when he appears in public. It adds that he suffers from depression and PTSD.

The allegations about a fake witness center on a teenager called Rachel Jeantel, whom the lawsuit claims gave testimony as Martins girlfriend as an imposter for her half-sister Brittany Diamond Eugene, Martins real girlfriend at the time.

Jeantel told jurors she was on the phone with Martin, who claimed he was being pursued by a creepy-ass cracker as he walked home. The testimony about Zimmerman, who is of Hispanic heritage, added further controversy to an already racially charged trial.

The lawsuit claims the conspiracy to have Jeantel testify in her sisters place was hatched when prosecutors could not persuade Eugene to make a statement incriminating Zimmerman.

Crump, who owns a law firm in Tallahassee, rejected Zimmermans claims. I have every confidence that this unfounded and reckless lawsuit will be revealed for what it is, another failed attempt to defend the indefensible and a shameless attempt to profit off the lives and grief of others, he said in a statement.

This plaintiff continues to display a callous disregard for everyone but himself. He would have us believe that he is the victim of a deep conspiracy despite the complete lack of any credible evidence to support his outlandish claims.

A representative for Fulton, who is running for a seat on the Miami-Dade county commission next year, did not immediately return a request for comment, and attempts to reach the Trayvon Martin Foundation, the anti-gun advocacy group set up by Fulton and Martin, were also unsuccessful.

Zimmerman, meanwhile, has been immersed in several controversies since his acquittal. In 2016 he attempted to profit by selling the gun he used to kill Trayvon, branding the weapon an American firearm icon and promising the proceeds would help fight the activities of Black Lives Matter.

One year earlier, a violent road rage incident resulted in a Florida man, Matthew Apperson, being sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempted murder after shooting at Zimmerman.

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George Zimmerman sues Trayvon Martin's family for $100m | US ...