Speaking of googling...
The opinion defense is a legal principle that protects individuals from defamation liability if they published an opinion rather than false statement of fact.
www.minclaw.com
Explain that to Tucker Carlson, the entertainer, about opinion.
If I wanted to call someone a crook, without evidence, and imply wrong doing I'd probably start by clarifying; "in my opinion" rather than say Tom received money, he ran away from obligations and the money is missing.
Now, can that be proven? Or, could you disprove Tom ran off with the money? Yes!
That would be for a jury to decide.
Yes, it would be libel, an error by definition but still a form of defamation. Dang, almost made it all week without a mistake. I gotta pay closer attention, never know when someone is out there sitting on their perch ready to pick at some comment as an opportunist to validate themselves.