Spear’s Review

Vardags’ Gregory Monk is a commercial litigator and private client adviser with a wealth of experience in solving complex reputational issues. Specialising in crisis management, Monk frequently handles defamation claims, blackmail threats, company leaks and confidential information disputes. His clients include high-profile politicians, executives and individuals facing the fallout from public scandals.

Monk tells Spear’s that over recent years, he has seen an increase in the number of blackmail threats crossing his desk. ‘It’s probably one of the aftereffects of the AI revolution. Before you’d have to do research to blackmail someone and to understand what information you actually have. Now, we’re seeing that people are using ChatGPT to effectively write demand letters.’

One standout case, Monk recalls, involved resolving a neighbourly dispute for a wealthy client who later sent him honey from her beehives as a thank you — appropriately, it was ‘the sweetest thing a client has ever given me’.