The statement doesn't need to be "proven" false, it needs to be proven true. The truth is an affirmative defense against defamation. And one only needs to show that the statement is more likely than not. You should know that logically, its much harder to prove something is false. The only way is to prove something is false is to show that the assumption that it is false leads to a contradiction. Also, in most jurisdictions in the US, accusing someone of a crime that turns out to be untrue is "defamatory per se" and doesn't require someone to prove the have had real monetary damages.
You really think that if suchmoon pursued this in the meatspace that a CA judge would rule suchmoon a "public figure" or a "limited purpose public figure?"
Naturally, I don't suspect suchmoon will pursue this since the indications are that Thule is across the pond and it would probably require more resources than the case is worth. In any event, if suchmoon were to bring up a case, it definitely would be stronger than thule's case against Vod. 