Texas slashes $50m judgment against Alex Jones over false claim Sandy Hook shooting was hoax
Appeals court slashes judgment to $1.5m in a significant legal victory for the rightwing Infowars founder
TL;DR
- A Texas appeals court reduced a $50 million judgment against Alex Jones to $1.5 million.
- The reduction was based on insufficient evidence that harassment caused by Jones's Sandy Hook hoax claims exceeded state damage caps.
- This ruling does not affect a $1.4 billion judgment against Jones in Connecticut.
- Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, were found liable for damages for claiming the Sandy Hook mass shooting was a hoax.
- Jones has placed himself and his company into bankruptcy.
- The satirical website The Onion has plans to lease Infowars and turn it into a parody.
- The deal with The Onion is provisionally approved but remains in limbo due to legal appeals.
- Jones admitted during trial that the Sandy Hook attack was '100% real' and that he was wrong to have lied about it.