Infighting at nation's oldest Albanian group spills into federal court

Update, Jan. 25, 2023: The Pan-Albanian Federation moved to dismiss its suit.

The Pan-Albanian Federation of America Vatra, a Boston-based Albanian fraternal group founded in 1909, today sued a former official for defamation and trademark violations after he accused the group's current leaders of being lying liars in thrall to the Albanian secret police and even Greece.

In its lawsuit, filed in US District Court, Vatra says, no, it's Valentin Lumaj of Farmington Hills, MI, formerly the speaker of the group's assembly, who's the lying liar, falsely accusing the group's current leadership of hating homosexuals, being in an illegal relationship with current Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and moving its headquarters to New York.

In fact, the group says in its complaint, it was forced to expel Lumaj for "his indecent behavior that included insulting other VATRA members on the internet, making threatening statements, bullying and harassment of other members, and making defamatory statements about VATRA and its members."

The group is seeking an order to make Lumaj stop making "false and defamatory statements" about the group and its current leaders and to stop using the its trademarked logo, plus trebled damages for his alleged continuing use of the Vatra logo.