BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Boca Raton martial arts instructor has filed a defamation lawsuit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court against a man accused of posting false and malicious statements about him on Instagram, including accusations of rape and human trafficking.
The plaintiff, Michael Ciprianni, who owns and operates a small business teaching jiu-jitsu and kickboxing to students including children, says the defendant — Charles Gordon Sinn, believed to reside in Malta — posted the false allegations on or about December 5, 2025 under the Instagram account “bigcat699.” The post, which had accumulated approximately 1,598 views at the time the complaint was filed, included a link to a website called “Justiceforcharles.com” and contained written statements in the comments section asserting that Ciprianni is a rapist and human trafficker. Ciprianni says he only discovered the posts by accessing the defendant’s account himself.
Ciprianni’s attorneys at The Lomnitzer Law Firm in Boca Raton sent a cease-and-desist letter directly to Sinn demanding retraction of the statements. Sinn did not respond and did not remove the posts, according to the complaint. The lawsuit brings two counts — defamation and defamation per se — and alleges the statements were made with actual malice, reckless disregard for the truth, and the intentional purpose of harming Ciprianni’s reputation and livelihood.
The complaint was just filed. It seeks compensatory, actual and punitive damages, a permanent injunction, and a court order requiring any websites displaying the false statements to remove them. There has been no response to the suit as of Saturday afternoon. Read the complete complaint, below.
