
 
 Conservative radio and television commentator Glenn Beck speaks to a rally of Tea Party members as they protest against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeting of the Tea Party and similar groups during a rally called “Audit the IRS” outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, June 19, 2013. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty) 
 
 On a mid-April day last year, Glenn Beck was in a full lather. Less than one week had passed since a pair of bombs had exploded at the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring hundreds more. The FBI had just identified the Tsarnaev brothers as primary suspects behind the attack. But to Beck, cloaked in a gray button-down and a sheen of indignation, this wasn’t enough. 
 
 In attendance at the marathon had been a 20-year-old Saudi Arabian student named Abdulrahman Alharbi. He was on a full ride to study at the nearby New England School of English. He’d been injured at the marathon, later questioned by police and ultimately cleared of wrongdoing. 
 
 Beck, however, had suspicions. The radio host urged the U.S. government to release information on Alharbi or Beck would “expose” him. “Let me send this message very clear,” said Beck, who left Fox News in 2011. “We know who this Saudi national is…. We know who this man is and, listen to me carefully, we know he is a very bad, bad, bad man.” 
 
 Beck continued days later: “While the media continues to look at what the causes were [behind] these two guys, there are, at this hour, three people involved,” he said, alleging the U.S. government had “tagged” Alharbi as a “proven terrorist.” 
 
 The broadcaster eventually called Alharbi an al-Qaeda “control agent” and the “money man” behind the attacks. “You know who the Saudi is?” Beck asked. “He’s the money man. He’s the guy who paid for it.” 
 
 “Is this speculation or are you reporting something?” a co-host asked. 
 
 Beck ignored the question. “He’s the money man.” 
 
 The “money man” has now filed a defamation suit against Beck, who has made a career out of conspiratorial musings. Beck has not responded publicly to the suit, which was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston. He had not responded to e-mails from The Washington Post as of early this morning. 
 
 “Alharbi, like many others, was questioned by federal authorities investigating the events of that day,” says the lawsuit. “The authorities quickly concluded that Mr. Alharbi, other than being injured in the attacks, had no involvement. 
 
 “Beck repeatedly and falsely identified Mr. Alharbi as an active participant, repeatedly questioned the motives of federal officials in failing to pursue or detain Alharbi and repeatedly and falsely accused Mr. Alharbi of being a criminal who had funded the attacks,” the lawsuit says. 
 
 Beck’s allegations added to a cacophony of misinformation that rose out of the Boston bombings, as anonymous Redditors vented unsubstantiated suspicions, and the New York Post plastered its own accusations on the paper’s cover. (The New York Post was sued for defamation in Massachusetts court over the matter, and the case is pending.) 
 
 Beck, normally a frenetic tweeter, has remained quiet since the lawsuit was filed. 
 
 The host’s allegations have haunted the Saudi student, according to the complaint. “Alharbi has received numerous messages, internet postings and other communications based on Beck’s false statements accusing him of being a murderer, child killer and terrorist.” 
 
 Alharbi told the Islamic Monthly in May that such accusations have left him changed forever. “All the police officers and the FBI … and all the nurses and all the doctors were staring at me…. I was looking [at] them like, is it because of the color of my skin, or is it because of the name of my country?” ||||| Saudi Man Investigated After Marathon Bombings Sues Glenn Beck for Defamation, Slander 
 
 In a court filing, Abdulrahman Alharbi claims the political commentator smeared his name. 
 
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 A Boston man searched by authorities in the days following the Marathon bombings is suing a national media outlet and radio personality for defamation and slander after the network allegedly continued to implicate him as a possible suspect, even when he was cleared of any wrongdoing by federal investigators. 
 
 According to court documents, Abdulrahman Alharbi, a Saudi Arabian student who lives in Revere, became the focus of public speculation for a brief time during the search for those responsible for setting off two pressure cooker bombs on Boylston Street. Alharbi claims that political commentator Glenn Beck and the company that carries his show, The Blaze, smeared his name in the media even after Alharbi was no longer the subject of the investigation. 
 
 “On and after April 15, Beck broadcast repeated statements distributed and published to others…identifying Alharbi as an active participant in the crimes that were committed in Boston,” Alharbi’s lawyer, Peter Haley, wrote in a six-page filing dated March 28 in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. “Beck falsely accused Alharbi of being a criminal who had funded the attacks that took place at the Boston Marathon…the statements made by Beck were false.” 
 
 The court document goes on to say that because of Beck’s statements made on national media platforms, which later were syndicated to other networks, Alharbi’s reputation has been “substantially and severely” damaged. Alharbi’s lawyer said his client has been inundated with hateful messages online accusing him of being a “murderer” and “child killer,” as well as a terrorist. 
 
 Beck’s claims were based on initial news reports that surfaced almost immediately after the bombings last year. As reports poured in, and media outlets grasped at whatever leads they deemed viable or suspicious in nature, Alharbi’s name began to circulate. 
 
 Federal authorities questioned Alharbi, who was injured when the bombs went off near the finish line, as he walked to meet friends for lunch, while he lay in his hospital bed with minor injuries sustained in the attack. With permission from Alharbi investigators raided his apartment in Revere to conduct a search. According to The Islamic Monthly, who interviewed Alharbi one month after he was first implicated as a possible suspect, “the media discovered his full address and publicized it while filming the FBI search of his apartment. By early Tuesday, reports of his full name and photos from his Facebook account were circulated.” 
 
 He was later exonerated by The Washington Post, and authorities said he was merely a “witness,” but Alharbi told The Islamic Monthly he feared for his life after being pegged as a possible terrorist. “The responsible officials quickly concluded that Mr. Alharbi, other then being injured in the attacks, had no involvement in the attacks,” his lawyer said. 
 
 Although nothing turned up as a result of that search and Alharbi was later acquitted of any suspicions and outlets stopped focusing on Alharbi, according to the court documents Beck continued to apply pressure to federal investigators, blasting them for not detaining Alharbi for further questioning. “[Beck] repeatedly questioned the motives of federal officials in failing to pursue or detain Alharbi,” Haley wrote. “[He] repeatedly and falsely accused Mr. Alharbi of being a criminal who had funded the attacks that took place at the Boston marathon. Those statements were made widely and publicly. The statements were false and caused grave injury to the plaintiff.” 
 
 Alharbi is accusing Beck of one count of defamation, and one count of defamation with malice. He’s asking that the courts determine the amount of damages they think this alleged defamation caused as well covering the cost of attorney’s fees. 
 
 Boston reached out to Alharbi for comment, but did not immediately receive a reply. 
 
 This isn’t the first example of a lawsuit filed by people wrongly accused of being the alleged Marathon bombing suspects. Two Boston-area men who had bags on their backs were splashed on the front cover of the New York Post as the investigation and search for the bombers continued. Those men, labeled by the Post as “Bag Men,” sued the newspaper for libel. That case is still pending. 
 
 Complaint – 4837-8616-1945 v 1
– Remember the Saudi Arabian student who was briefly questioned and quickly cleared in the Boston Marathon bombing? Well, Glenn Beck was really convinced that 20-year-old Abdulrahman Alharbi was behind the attacks, railing against Alharbi on multiple episodes of his show even after he'd been cleared; now Alharbi is suing Beck for defamation. Beck said, among other things: "We know who this Saudi national is," Beck said, threatening to "expose" Alharbi if the US government didn't. "We know who this man is and, listen to me carefully, we know he is a very bad, bad, bad man." "While the media continues to look at what the causes were [behind] these two guys [the Tsarnaev brothers], there are, at this hour, three people involved," Beck said, adding that Alharbi had been "tagged" by the government as a "proven terrorist." "You know who the Saudi is? He’s the money man. He’s the guy who paid for it," Beck said, also claiming Alharbi was an al-Qaeda "control agent." Beck has not responded to the suit, the Washington Post reports, and has been uncharacteristically quiet on Twitter since it was filed Friday. Alharbi is also suing the Blaze, Beck's network, Boston magazine reports.