Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cannot use his personal bankruptcy to escape paying at least $1.1 billion in defamation damages stemming from his repeated lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday.
You could say that about anyone. There is not a world in which 1b in damages from defamation against a private individual makes sense.
I guess the question is, how much money did Jones and his company make from said defamation. Personally I think if a company profits illegally then the fine should be at a minimum a close estimation of what they profited.
Sure, totally fine, that would be pretty typical. But we all know it was not 1b dollars.
Maybe the death threats from his fans and having to go into hiding because of his rhetoric bumped up price. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I’m sure there were many parents in the jury that have had enough of the bullshit.
Death threats are illegal, but Alex Jones did not make the death threats. Does he share some responsibility? probably. But he was not the one making death threats and did not instruct his followers to make them. That changes it from “intent” to just being irresponsible.
Surely you followed the trials, since you have an opinion. Jones had so many opportunities to make that case, and didn’t. Stalling, lying, and fighting with the courts did not work out well for him. Calling the judge names outside of court and denying everything also did not work for him.
Reviewing the income statements and the effects it had on everyone’s lives, the jurors came up with a number that was the sum. In two different cases as well.
It is not as cut and dry as “he shouldn’t be punished, and this was too much”
Removed by mod
it’s not clear what you are arguing for. the fines and judgments against Jones are payable. he has assets. he’s just a baby.
He does not have 1b.
No, he is not. He is a grifter, that exploits peoples fears for money. He also happens to have a decent amount of hate coupled with a stunted maturity, which makes for finding an easy audience to grift.
I heal what you are saying, but there is no retaliation, no punishment. This is a civil matter, he choose to get himself into this mess by not even trying to get out of it, and now this is the restitution that his peers have found him liable for.
Cruel and unusual is what he did by lying about people to create the fear solely for profit. There is no libertarian angle, no news story. It is simply he is willing to hurt others for money.
you tell it brother sister
Civil courts are not meant to use their ability to charge damages as a form of lifelong punishment.
Conservative estimates put his companies earnings at 300 million a year. So ya I’d say it was pretty close since he went on about it for quite awhile. Also don’t forget that during the lawsuit he hid money, lied in court, hid evidence and even refused to show up to court. I think his punishment is more than fitting. This guy knowingly lied about families who were devastated to make money, affecting those families lives to the point that they had to move and go into hiding. Fuck Alex Jones, he’s a shit human being and I hope he spends the rest of his life mopping restrooms in a truck stop somewhere.
I find it very hard to believe he was earning 300m a year in profit. I would like a source on that.
Civil courts are not in the business of handing out punishments btw. Once again proving my point that you hate the guy so much that you overlook the abuse of the civil court system to put him in debt for life through a completely irrationally outsized amount of damages.
It was not just one lawsuit, I believe that may be the combined total of all the lawsuits to date. Rest assured though the judge said his fake bankruptcy may cover the 324 million in lawyers fees.
this one lawsuit is responsible for 965m, which is pretty much 1 billion.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/jury-begins-third-day-deliberations-alex-jones-sandy-hook-defamation-trial-2022-10-12/