Ridhi Setty of Columbia Journalism Review attempts to get to the bottom of a myriad of companies that include the International Business Times who owe contributors tens of thousands of dollars.
Setty writes, “The people with whom I spoke—nine in total, journalists and others, all of whom had been independent contractors, until they stepped away—told me that they understood themselves to be working for Pleroma Media; at various points, some of their paychecks came from Pleroma MGMT or, in the case of one person, from ‘IBT MGMT’ and ‘IBTimes.’ As of December of 2025, they said, they were collectively owed around forty thousand dollars.
“When I arrived at the building, I provided the names of the companies and the law firm to a security guard, who let me in. I rode the elevator up, trying to find my way—I hadn’t seen a directory in the lobby. On the sixth floor, a man who identified himself as Titus emerged from an office belonging to the International Business Times, also known as IBT Media. I introduced myself, and he told me to come back in ten minutes, which I did. Upon my return, Titus asked whether I had an appointment, which I did not. He then took me down to the lobby—while filming me on his phone—and had me write down my contact information on a sheet of paper. I told Titus—whom I later found on LinkedIn: Titus Choi, the head of development for IBT Media—that I would like to set up an appointment if possible, thanked him, and left. Afterward, I learned that IBT, through Titus Younseok Choi, had filed a police report against me. In a letter sent to the Columbia Journalism Review, Simon Lee, the president of Pleroma MGMT LLC, wrote that I had trespassed, citing concern over a ‘safety breach.’ Later, a law firm representing IBT Media sent a letter demanding that I cease and desist ‘from future trespasses’ and stating that the company ‘intends to prosecute a civil claim seeking injunctive relief.'”
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