On Wednesday, a court in Waterbury, Connecticut following the testimonies of victims’ families of the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, which killed at least 20 children and six staff members, ordered Alex Jones, the infamous conspiracy theorist, to pay $965 million in damages to those affected by his lies about the shooting being a hoax.
Jones, who was reportedly not present in the court at the time of the hearing, hosts a show called Infowars where he made these claims and was ordered to pay 15 plaintiffs who sued him for defamation with the amounts ranging from $28m to $120m.
This verdict is the second against Jones, in another Texas lawsuit, in August, the jury awarded almost $50m to the parents of another child who was killed during what is claimed to be the deadliest school shooting in the US. The Infowars host claimed that the families seen in the news coverage of the school shooting were actors hired as a part of a plot to take away people’s guns, said media reports.
The Infowars host later took to his show and reacted to the verdict and was reportedly seen mocking and laughing at the amount being awarded to different individuals. Reports suggest that he called the trial “all made up” and went on to urge his viewers to donate money and buy his products in order to offset the damages.
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He added, “So this is what a show trial looks like. I mean, this is completely out of control.” Meanwhile, Norm Pattis, Jones’s lawyer said that the trial was unfair, “Today is a very, very, very dark day for freedom of speech,” Pattis said to the reporters outside the court, according to the local media.
On other hand, Jones on his show said, on Wednesday, he said “Ain’t going to be happening. Ain’t no money,” as he has even in the past repeatedly claimed that he does not have the money to pay such large damages, said media reports. However, representatives of the families have claimed Jones is trying to dodge the payments.
According to a report by New York Times, following the trial in August, an economist estimated that the Infowars show host is worth at least $270 million. Furthermore, his show has made $50 annually from his empire as profits increased following the two lawsuits against him, said the report. It also elucidated how Jones through his show for years has claimed that the mass shooting is a hoax and those falsehoods brought profits and attention to his website.
Meanwhile, the families of the victims have claimed that the Infowars host’s claims have incited death threats and harassment, adding that they have received regular abuse from his followers on social media, including threats of digging up the coffins of their loved ones. Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son was killed during the shooting testified in court saying that conspiracy theorists urinated on his son’s grave and threatened to dig up his child’s coffin.
(With inputs from agencies)
