A Connecticut judge has ordered Alex Jones and his company to pay $473 million to plaintiffs over his lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, adding to a nearly $1 billion jury verdict from last month. The pain that Jones caused the families of the slaughtered children is immeasurable, and no amount of money can bring those kids back, but at least it sends a message.
The Washington Post reports:
The families and an FBI agent sued Jones for spreading misinformation about the 2012 mass shooting in which 20 children and six teachers were killed in an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
Judge Barbara Bellis's order comes nearly a month after Jones was ordered to pay $965 million in damages to the families in the culmination of the multiyear legal battle.
Jones, who has argued he does not have the funds to pay for the damages, was also ordered not to transfer his assets outside of the United States until further notice from the court.
Via CBS News:
In Connecticut, punitive damages for defamation and infliction of emotional distress are generally limited to plaintiffs' legal fees. The Sandy Hook plaintiffs' lawyers are to get one-third of the $965 million in compensatory damages under a retainer agreement — putting their legal fees at $322 million.
But there is no cap on punitive damages for violations of the Unfair Trade Practices Act. The plaintiffs had not asked for a specific amount of punitive damages, but under one hypothetical calculation they said such damages could be around $2.75 trillion under the unfair trade law.
"This is the first step in making sure that Jones personally will pay every penny he has to the families he spent years tormenting," Chris Mattei, who represents the families in the case against Jones, said in a statement.
If anyone deserves for their world to come crashing down around them, it's Alex Jones. The children's bodies weren't even buried yet when Jones decided to inflict more pain on the grieving families. He fucked around, and now he found out.
