InfoWars host Alex Jones is being ordered to pay an additional $473m for spreading conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting.
The Associated Press reports that a judge in Connecticut has ordered him to pay an additional $473m on top of previous rulings that he pay nearly $1bn for spreading lies about the mass shooting.
Connecticut Judge Barbara Bellis ruled against Jones and Free Speech Systems.
Jones told his viewers on numerous occasions that the 20 children and six educators who were killed in the attack were "crisis actors" and that the event was staged to give the Democratic party a pretense for enacting gun control measures.
During a month-long trial earlier this year, an FBI agents and eight relatives of the victims testified to the harassment and threats they faced as a result of Jones’ conspiracy theories. Some family members of the victims recounted strangers showing up at their homes and harassing them there and in public. Other Jones followers sent them messages on social media and via email, with some including rape and death threats.
Six jurors found Jones responsible for the suffering of the families and determined that he should pay $965m to compensate the 15 plaintiffs who accused him of defamation, infliction of emotional distress, and violations of Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act. That act prohibits deceptive business practices.
Jones has appealed the ruling and has stated on his show that he is confident the ruling will be overturned. He claims he only has $2m to his name — a claim that was contradicted during the trial in Texas when forensic economist, Bernard Pettingill Jr, testified that he believed Jones’ net worth to be between $135m and $270m.
A report by Forbes found that Jones owns an estimated $7.5m in properties.
“The amount of the compensatory damages award exceeds any rational relationship to the evidence officered at trial,” the appeal reads. “The verdict in the instant case is both unjust and against the weight of the evidence.”
Last year, Ms Bellis found Jones and Free Speech Systems — InfoWars’ parent company — liable for damages without a trial using a "default" ruling. She justified the ruling by saying Jones repeatedly failed to produce financial documents and other information to the plaintiffs for the purpose of the lawsuit. As a result the jurors only task was to determine the severity of the damages he had to pay.
Jones denied that accusation, saying he turned over thousands of documents. He has also claimed that the default ruling undermined his right to present a defense against the lawsuits actual allegations.
