Alex Jones Gets Sued for $45.2 Million in Sandy Hook Case

Alex Jones is a conspiracy theorist that created lies about the tragedy, Sandy Hook, in which required him to pay $45.2 million for the punitive damage. Jones was found liable for defaming the victims’ families and pushing misinformation about the shooting being part of a government plot to confiscate Americans’ firearms and victims’ families had been complicit in the scheme. Due to Jones’ defamation, the families of the victims were harassed and threatened. The trial was held to find the damage Jones caused for these families’ suffering.  

During this lawsuit, Jones was being sued in four separate lawsuits, not all of them made it to jury, but Jones was found liable for all of them by default for not presenting any sort of evidence; documentation regarding financial records that was ordered by the courts over four years of litigation. Jones’ legal team claimed that his conspiracy was his right to freedom of speech, even though the outcome of the cases was for the failure of to present documents and testify.  

The two trials were held in Austin, Texas and Waterbury, Connecticut, to find the damage that Jones caused for the suffering of these families and determine the amount owed to the families. Connecticut’s jury awarded nearly $1 billion in damages to the families of eight Sandy Hook victims and an F.B.I. agent who responded to the scene. A judge later added $473 million in fees to the award. Jones was found liable of compensatory damage in a later trial I Texas (based on proof of harm, loss, or injury) ending with Jones being ordered to pay $4 million. Jones was charged with $45.2 million in punitive damages, which are intended to punish especially harmful behavior.