President Trump on Friday accused Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal of defaming him in an article about a lewd birthday greeting that the publication said Mr. Trump had sent to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein decades ago.

In a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Mr. Trump said the article “falsely claimed that he authored, drew and signed” the note to Mr. Epstein.

The complaint claimed that “given the timing” of the article, “the overwhelming financial and reputational harm suffered by President Trump will continue to multiply.” It asked for awarded damages “not to be less than $10 billion.”

The suit named as defendants The Journal’s parent company, News Corp; Mr. Murdoch, News Corp’s founder and former chairman; Robert Thomson, News Corp’s chief executive; Dow Jones, the publisher of The Journal; and two Journal reporters.

The Journal published the article about the note on Thursday under the headline: “Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump.” The article described a letter that appeared to be from Mr. Trump in a 2003 birthday album compiled for Mr. Epstein. The letter, which The Journal said it had reviewed, had a drawing of a naked woman on it with Mr. Trump’s signature below her waist, alluding to pubic hair, the article said.

“Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” The Journal said the note read.

Mr. Trump denied to The Journal that he had written the letter and said it was “a fake thing” and threatened legal action.