The far-right American talk show host Alex Jones (48) has to pay eight families of victims of the Sandy Hook primary school shooting and a first aider 975 million dollars (1.005 billion euros) in damages. That was decided by a jury in the state of Connecticut on Wednesday, reports Reuters news agency.
In August, Jones was also ordered to pay damages in Austin, Texas. Then a jury decided that he and his far-right media company Infowars had to pay $49.3 million to parents of shooting victims. Jesse Lewis’ parents had sued Jones, because he has been on his shows for 9.5 years proclaiming that they are part of a conspiracy to enact stricter gun laws. Jesse was one of 20 children shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Six others were also killed. According to Jones, “the whole thing was staged with actors.”
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for one of the families, had urged jurors in the Connecticut case to award at least half a billion dollars for “permanently mutilating” the lives of his clients. According to him, Jones has been cashing in on lies about the shooting for years. It drove traffic to his Infowars website, where he sells dietary supplements, water filters, and libido enhancers, among other things. This while the families received death threats from his followers for ten years, lawyer Mattei said. “Each of these families drowned in grief, and Alex Jones put his foot on it.”
‘Excessive’
Jones, who has since admitted the shooting took place, was also questioned and caused chaos at the trial when he refused to apologize to the families. Previously, Jones’ lawyers called the Texas fine “excessive” and said they hoped to have most of the payout invalidated. Neither Jones nor his lawyers had commented on the new ruling on Wednesday.
The damages imposed on Wednesday could have major consequences for the survival of Jones’ media company. During the August case, the company was valued at between $135 and 270 million by a forensic economist.
While the verdict was in progress, Jones, watching live from his own studio, asked for new donations of his viewers. He promised to use that money for his “fight” and said none of it will go to the families.
Also read: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has to pay nearly $50 million in damages for lying about Sandy Hook