A judge on Thursday ordered Infowars host Alex Jones and his company to pay an additional $473 million for promoting false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre, raising the total for the lawsuit filed against him for the families of the victims to a staggering $1.44 billion.
Connecticut Judge Barbara Bellis imposed punitive damages on the host of Infowars and Free Speech Systems. Jones repeatedly claimed to her millions of followers that the massacre that claimed the lives of 20 first graders and six teachers was staged by “crisis actors” to enact greater control over guns.
“The record clearly supports Plaintiffs’ argument that Defendants’ conduct was intentional and malicious, and likely affected by virtue of their infrastructure, ability to disseminate content, and mass audience, including ‘infowarriors,'” the judge wrote in a 45-page ruling.
The punitive damages include $150 million for violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, which prohibits deceptive trade practices and unfair competition, and about $323 million for plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs.
Relatives of eight victims and the FBI agent testified during a month-long trial about being threatened and harassed for years by people who deny the shooting happened. Strangers showed up at several of their homes and confronted some of them in public, others made abusive comments on social media and via email. And some received death and rape threats.
Six jurors ordered Jones to pay $965 million to compensate the 15 plaintiffs for defamation, emotional distress and unfair trade law violations.
Jones has called the trial unfair and an assault on free speech rights. He announced that he will appeal the verdicts and said he did not have the money to pay verdicts so big, because he has less than two million dollars to his name, which contradicts testimony in a similar trial in Texas. For its part, Free Speech Systems is seeking bankruptcy protection.
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