By: Richard L. Smith
The City of Newark has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a defamation lawsuit stemming from a police press release that allegedly misidentified a North Jersey businessman as a suspect in a prostitution sting.
According to a report released on October 23, 2025, by Transparency New Jersey and open-government advocate John Paff, the Newark City Council approved the settlement during its August 6 meeting.
The agreement resolved a legal dispute brought by Mohammed Ibrahim of Boonton, who claimed city officials and police personnel wrongfully portrayed him as one of thirteen men arrested in a May 2019 prostitution sweep.
Ibrahim alleged that police altered an initial arrest report to substitute his name for the actual offender’s, then passed the revised document to Newark’s Public Information Office.
That office allegedly pulled Ibrahim’s driver’s license photo from a crime-victim database and included it among the “mug shots” released to the public.
In his lawsuit, Ibrahim argued that the false release devastated his reputation, leading friends, family members, business associates, and customers to distance themselves from him.
Newark’s Public Safety Director later issued a written apology and a correction, but Ibrahim maintained that the original release remained online long enough to cause lasting harm.
The complaint further accused Newark police of retaliation. Ibrahim said Officer Christopher DeCampos issued multiple summonses against his dealership after he filed tort-claim notices; those summonses were later dismissed by prosecutors.
In a November 12, 2024 ruling, Superior Court Judge Joshua D. Sanders allowed Ibrahim’s claims of defamation, false light, and malicious prosecution to proceed, finding that a jury could conclude Detective Kevin Wright Jr. acted with “reckless disregard for the truth” when preparing the arrest report.
Judge Sanders also ruled a jury could determine Officer DeCampos’ summonses were retaliatory. Other defendants, including Officer Alexis Rivera, Officer David Whatley, Catherine Adams, Mark DiIonno, and former Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose, were dismissed from the case on summary judgment.
The case, Mohammed Ibrahim v. City of Newark, et al., was filed under Docket No. ESX-L-3028-20.
The settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing. As Transparency New Jersey noted, when lawsuits settle before trial it is often unclear whether claims had merit or whether defendants simply chose to resolve the matter to avoid the risks and costs of litigation.