Imagine getting a $473,000,000 verdict against you and knowing you got off relatively lightly. The total amount he must pay to the Sandy Hook families he libeled now stands at $1.44 billion.
Connecticut Judge Barbara Bellis imposed the punitive damages on the Infowars host and Free Speech Systems. Jones repeatedly told his millions of followers the massacre that killed 20 first graders and six educators was staged by "crisis actors" to enact more gun control.
"The record clearly supports the plaintiffs' argument that the defendants' conduct was intentional and malicious, and certain to cause harm by virtue of their infrastructure, ability to spread content, and massive audience including the infowarriors," the judge wrote in a 45-page ruling.
"Intentional, malicious and heinous", as the families' lawyers put it.