Kim Kardashian had to deal with firing back at the man suing her for mistakenly posting his photo on social media — instead of an inmate she was trying to help — while at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding celebration, Us Weekly can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by Us, Kim, 44, and her legal team argued that the case brought by Ivan Cantu had no standing. The reality star signed the paperwork on June 26 while in Venice, Italy. Kim was overseas for the Bezos wedding, which took place the following day.
In 2024, Kim started using social media to raise awareness and attempt to help a different man named Ivan Cantu, a Texas man who was convicted of murder in 2001 and sentenced to death.
Kim said she became vocal to try and stay his execution, along with many others.
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Her lawyer explained, “[Kim] played an important role in advocating for Mr. Cantu. Over the course of approximately ten days in February 2024, [Kim] and her team posted a series of ‘stories’ regarding Mr. Cantu — approximately 16 in all — on [Kim’s] Instagram account. Of these 16 stories, one story posted two days before Mr. Cantu’s execution mistakenly used an image of the plaintiff in this action, a New York-based project manager whose name is also Ivan Cantu.”
In his lawsuit, Ivan, the man suing Kim, claimed he suffered emotional distress due to the posting. He claimed the incident caused him to lose sleep and experience PTSD. Kim argued his claims have no merit. (The inmate that Kim was attempting to help, meanwhile, was executed on February 28, 2024)
In her motion, Kim’s lawyer said, “The mistake was discovered within hours of the posting and the story was immediately deleted, with [Kim] swiftly issuing a public apology to [Ivan] that same.”
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Her lawyer continued: “Stated succinctly, this lawsuit is an attempt to cash in on a mistake that occurred in connection with, and as a direct result of, [Kim’s] exercise of her constitutional rights of free speech and petition.
The reality mogul filed a declaration as part of her motion. She said, “Over the past eight years, I have used my resources and public platform to advocate for criminal justice reform and a fairer legal system, including a focus on clemency and exoneration of individuals who were wrongfully convicted or subjected to disproportionate sentences.”
She added, “My work advocating for criminal justice reform is solely based on my personal desire to use my voice to fight for people who may not have a voice and to drive systemic change. I engage in this work because I am passionate about it and without any commercial benefit or intent.”
Kim continued, “My advocacy for criminal justice reform has no direct relation to any of my business or commercial pursuits. My advocacy led me to pursue a law degree, deepening my commitment and work in criminal justice reform. I graduated from the State Bar of California’s Law Office Study Program in May 2025.”
She said she learned about the inmate Ivan’s case in early 2024. “I was moved by Mr. Cantu’s story and his steadfast claim of innocence. I was also troubled by what I understood to be serious problems with Mr. Cantu’s conviction,” she said.
Kim said the photo of the plaintiff being used was a simple mistake.
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“The use of Plaintiff’s image in the February 26 Story was a mistake and was not done intentionally. Neither I, nor to the best of my knowledge, anyone on my team knew or believed at the time the February 26 Story was posted that the person depicted in the image was Plaintiff and not Mr. Cantu. I would not have used the image appearing in the February 26 Story had I known that it was a picture of Plaintiff and not Mr. Cantu,” she said.
The case is ongoing.
