United States conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $49.3m (£41m) in damages after falsely claiming a school shooting in 2012 was a hoax.
US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $49.3m (£41m) in damages after falsely claiming a school shooting in 2012 was a hoax.
A Texas jury ruled that the radio host should pay $45.2 million in punitive damages, in addition to the $4.1 million in damages he had awarded the day before.
The two-week libel suit was brought by the parents of a child killed in the attack.
Twenty children and six adults were killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
The lawsuit was brought by Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the estranged parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, who died in the elementary school shooting. The plaintiffs – who said they were harassed and upset by the Infowars founder’s misinformation – had sought $150 million.
The damages, issued on Thursday, were intended to cover actual costs incurred by the family in defaming Jones, such as private security, which they hired during the trial for fear of attack by a Jones supporter.
Punitive damages are intended to deter and deter Jones from repeating his offense.
“We’re asking you to send a very, very simple message, which is: arrest Alex Jones,” a lawyer for the parents said in court on Friday. “Stop monetizing misinformation and lies. Please.”
On Friday, a parent-hired economist testified that Jones, his media brand Infowars, and parent company Free Speech Systems are worth up to $ 270 million.
Bernard Pettingill told the court that documents show Jones withdrew $ 62 million himself from his company in 2021 as his legal problems grew.
“That number represents, in my opinion, the value of an asset,” Pettingill said. “He has money in a bank account somewhere.”
Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in the first week of the two-week trial.
The trial revealed that Jones’s company had made about $800,000 in one day by selling food supplements, weapons, and survival equipment. Lawyers for the parents have accused Jones of trying to conceal evidence, saying he committed perjury by denying sending messages about the Sandy Hook attack.
Earlier this week, a lawyer for the plaintiffs revealed that Jones’ legal representative had accidentally texted them from the radio host for two years.
He said the congressional committee investigating last year’s U.S. Capitol riots requested access to information while investigating Jones’ alleged role.
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This is the first of three lawsuits filed against Jones by family members of Sandy Hook victims.
He has already lost a number of defamation lawsuits brought by relatives of victims after failing to provide documents and testimony. But it was the first trial in which a jury settled monetary damages.
Jones appeared in court briefly on Friday but was absent for the final sentencing hearing.
Although Jones withdrew his claims about Sandy Hook, he continued to use his media platform to argue that the case against him was rigged, saying the jury members ‘don’t know what planet they are on’. . himself.” His Infowars website showed the judge was consumed by flames.
His behavior drew several reprimands from the judge, who at one point told him, “This is not your show.”
After Friday’s verdict, he posted a video claiming his net worth was a fraction of what was said in court and condemned the trial as “beyond any kangaroo-rigged court”. Jones – a popular figure in American fringe conservative commentary – has repeatedly argued that the Sandy Hook shooting was a government-orchestrated hoax to deny Americans gun rights and that the parents of the dead children were “crisis actors”.
His attorney had cited U.S. constitutional free speech protections and sought leniency in the trial, saying the jury had already sent a message to all radio hosts “that their standard of care has changed.
