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Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay $473 million in punitive damages to the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
On Thursday, November 10, a Connecticut judge ordered radio host Alex Jones to pay $473 million, including $323 million to cover attorney’s fees and costs. The amount also included $150 million in damages under a state law called the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The judgment comes after Jones, host of the right-wing podcast Infowars, made spurious statements about the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six adults.
It should be noted, that the $473 million in punitive damages is separate from the $965 million in compensatory damages a jury awarded the families in October. As per Connecticut law, a judge determines the punitive damages in a defamation trial. The plaintiffs in the Connecticut trial had sought $550 million from the radio host.
Alex Jones will now have to pay over a billion dollars
With the Connecticut verdict, Alex Jones is now liable to pay a total of $1.44 billion following the defamation trials where the plaintiffs sued Jones, citing a lack of remorse. The Connecticut trial is the one-in-three that Alex Jones is facing for spreading lies about the Sandy Hook shooting.
After the incident, Jones claimed on his radio show that there were no victims in the incident and described the shooting as a hoax carried out by "crisis actors.” In a statement, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis said:
“The record also establishes that the defendants repeated the conduct and attacks on the plaintiffs for nearly a decade, including during the trial, wanton, malicious, and heinous conduct that caused harm to the plaintiffs."
She added:
"This depravity and cruel, persistent course of conduct by the defendants establishes the highest degree of reprehensibility and blameworthiness.”
However, Jones, whose net worth is calculated at $270 million, is most likely to declare bankruptcy because he does not have the necessary amount to pay these damages.
Jones has repeatedly echoed these claims, saying that he will be unable to pay the plaintiffs as he does not have the money to match the damages. However, Jones’s past transgressions have left people skeptical about the statements related to his finances.
In a separate order, the Connecticut judge temporarily blocked Jones from moving any personal assets out of the US after plaintiffs in the Sandy Hook defamation trial expressed their suspicion that the radio host was trying to hide the money. Meanwhile, Jones' attorneys said they plan to appeal the court's judgment.
Alex Jones will face a third defamation trial, again in Texas, filed against him by Pozner and De La Rosa, where the jury will once again decide on how much Jones owes the family in damages,
