A Connecticut judge on Thursday ordered Infowars host Alex Jones to pay an additional $473 million to families of the Sandy Hook massacre — on top of the near $1 billion verdict he was already ordered to pay — for claiming the 2012 shooting was a hoax.
Connecticut Judge Barabara Bellis said the far-right conspiracy theorist and his company Free Speech Systems must pay the punitive damages after a jury last month awarded a $965 million verdict in compensatory damages to victim families.
A group of 15 plaintiffs sued Jones for defamation and related claims after he repeatedly told his millions of followers that the shooting was fabricated by the media to push gun control reforms.
The victim families accused Jones of making tens of millions of dollars off of the tragedy and their suffering by spreading lies to attract more followers who also buy his merchandise.
“The record clearly supports the plaintiffs’ argument that the defendants’ conduct was intentional and malicious, and certain to cause harm by virtue of their infrastructure, ability to spread content, and massive audience including the ïnfowarriors,” Bellis wrote in the decision.
At the time, Jones blasted the jury verdict saying: “Do these people actually think they’re getting any of this money?”
Jones has claimed that he has less than $2 million personally and his company is seeking bankruptcy protection. Though at a separate Texas trial an economist told jurors Jones and the company had a combined worth of as much as $270 million
Jones says he plans to appeal both judgments claiming the trial was unfair and violated his constitutional right to free speech.
The families claim that because of Jones’ comments they were harassed for years by people claiming the horrific event never happened.
Adam Lanza killed 26 people at the elementary school and then himself on Dec. 14, 2012.
Plaintiff lawyer Christopher Mattei said he hoped the ruling would deter conspiracy theorists from attempting to make money off of lies.
“The court recognized the ‘intentional, malicious … and heinous’ conduct of Mr. Jones and his business entities,” Mattei said in a statement.
Teenagers console each other outside during a memorial service at Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. Essdras M Suarez/Boston Globe via Getty ImagesIn August, a Texas jury found Jones liable for defamation and awarded nearly $50 million in damages to different Sandy Hook victim families.
A third defamation trial is set to go forward in Texas at the end of the year.
Jones’ lawyer Norman Pattis said in a statement: “To paraphrase Karl Marx, the verdict was a tragedy, this latest ruling is farce. It makes our work on appeal that much easier.”
With Post wires
