Is telling someone their girlfriend has been cheating on him illegal?
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Is telling someone their girlfriend has been cheating on him illegal?
I met a girl online and she lives on the
United Kingdom. She was cruel to me
mentally and controlling. Things
between us ended badly after 4 years.
She manipulated me and lied to me. I
now want to tell her boyfriend what
she’s been doing behind his back. I’ve
told her in the past I might tell him and
she said she’d contact the authorities
and have me arrested. I have proof of
what went on between us that I’d show
him. I feel I would want to know if I
were him. Is it illegal by me sending
him images of what she was doing
behind his back. Screen shots of her
words, no pictures of any one.
Asked on January 24, 2017 under Criminal Law, Ohio
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
*Telling* him what she was doing is not illegal, so long as it is provably true--any person can tell any other person a true fact, so long as there is no written agreement (e.g. a confidentiality agreement) to the contrary. She can be angry at you, but you may legally do this; note, however, that if she feels that you may not be able to prove it's true, she could try suing you for defamation, which is making a untrue factual statement (a lie) about another person which damages her reputation. Note that if she is angry enough to sue, then even if you can prove the cheating and so would win the lawsuit, you'd still have to spend the time, effort, headache, and money to defend against the lawsuit--that is, if she gets so upset as to sue, even if you win the case, you lose to some degree, since you were forced to defend yourself in court.
If the words you want to send (and you are right: do NOT send pictures, since that opens you up for liability) were sent to you--e.g. they are screen shots of emails or text messages to you--you can forward them to the boyfriend. Any one may forward any communication made to them to another, again so long as there was not some agreement to not do so. But if they were not sent to you and you instead took them off her private email or text or social media account, etc. without her consent, that is a crime.
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