Alex Jones Ordered to Pay an Additional $472 Million

Alex Jones was ordered to pay $472 million in punitive damages and attorneys’ fees in addition to the $965 million awarded by a Connecticut jury for spreading lies about the Sandy Hook school massacre.

On Thursday, Connecticut state court judge Barbara Bellis ruled that the Infowars host’s actions warranted him paying punitive and compensatory damages to the families of the victims of the 2012 school shooting, which killed 20 first graders and six educators.

She awarded $150 million in punitive damages and $321.7 million in legal fees, which Jones must pay to the victims’ lawyers under a one-third contingency-fee arrangement.

Jones’s lawyer, Norm Pattis, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bellis’ rulings.

Alex Jones has promoted the conspiracy theory that the government staged the shooting with “crisis actors” to influence gun-control policy. Jones was found to have defamed the families and violated a state law prohibiting the sale of products with false statements after being sued by five Sandy Hook families and a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who responded to the shooting.

He frequently pushed vitamin supplements and survival gear on shows where he lied about the shooting.

Alex Jones was found guilty.

On October 12, a jury awarded $965 million in compensatory damages for the victims’ reputational harm and emotional distress. Despite the already-hefty verdict, plaintiffs’ lawyers urged Bellis to award the maximum possible punitive damages to deter Jones from spreading his lies.

Bellis stated that she based her punitive damages award on Jones’s degree of malice and his intentional decisions to conceal his financial resources and continue tormenting the families for profit for a decade, even on shows broadcast during the trial.

“This depravity, as well as the defendants’ cruel, persistent course of conduct, establishes the highest degree of reprehensibility and blameworthiness,” the judge wrote in her 45-page decision.

However, the punitive award was not the most severe that Bellis could have imposed. In her ruling, she stated that legal precedent would have allowed her to impose a punitive damages award equal to double the jury verdict – or nearly a billion – but she also stated that both the US and Connecticut supreme courts discouraged disproportionately large punitive damages awards that could be viewed as a “windfall” to plaintiffs.

On Thursday, a family lawyer, Chris Mattei, praised Bellis’ award. “The court recognized Alex Jones and his business entities’ intentional, malicious, and heinous conduct,” Mattei wrote in an email. “We hope this reinforces the case’s message: those who profit from lies that target the innocent will face justice.”

Alex Jones mocked the jury verdict almost immediately after it was announced, disparaging the massacre and vowing to appeal any court order. He has already requested that Bellis overturn the jury’s decision as legally flawed and order a new trial. The judge has not yet decided on that request.

Fees and punitive damages

Pattis had requested that Bellis award only nominal attorneys’ fees and punitive damages, claiming that the jury’s award was sufficient punishment. However, Pattis acknowledged that it is unclear what amount of damages – would be sufficient to change Jones’ behaviour.

The case is still hung up on whether Jones will pay any portion of the verdict. The families have accused Jones of concealing assets and stealing profits through a network of shell companies controlled by family members.

Bellis granted the families’ request earlier Thursday to temporarily prohibit Jones and his companies from transferring or disposing of assets without her permission. Mattei agreed with the decision.

“This is the first step in ensuring that Jones personally pays every penny he has to the families he has tormented for years,” he said.

The families also requested that Jones provide a complete accounting of his assets, which he has consistently refused to do, and that he bring all movable property to Connecticut for safekeeping by the court. The judge has not yet responded to those requests.

Jones declared Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems LLC, bankrupt this summer and has repeatedly stated that he will never pay the families a dime. He’s asked his millions of followers to donate to him as he continues investigating the shooting and appealing the verdicts against him.

During the Connecticut trial, one of Jones’ executives testified that corporate revenues in the ten years following Sandy Hook ranged between $100 million and $1 billion. A financial expert testified in a previous Sandy Hook defamation trial that Alex Jones’ net worth likely ranges between $135 million and $270 million.

Source: Bloomberg

Keywords: Alex jones sandy hook, the Alex jones show