The fine marks one of the first concrete legal consequences for Jones’ false claims that the shooting was a staged’false flag’.
Jones will face a total of three trials from Sandy Hook parents. Since he lost defamation cases in all three by default for refusing to produce documents to the court, the jury in each case will be deciding financial penalties.
Jones claimed that any fine over $ 2 million would’sink’ him. But court evidence showed that Jones’ site Infowars made $ 50 million a year even after being’deplatformed’.
Free speech systems (FSS) declared bankruptcy with a $ 54 million debt to another company that appears to be controlled by Jones. Jones has been accused of’systematically siphoning large amounts of money’ out of FSS to limit his losses.
Judge Maya Guerra gamble chided Jones for lying on the stand. She also chided his (11th) lawyer, andino reynal, for letting one of Jones’s witnesses go on air with him to discuss the case.
Jones aired segments suggesting that heslin had lied about holding his dead son in his arms.’I unintentionally took part in things that did hurt these people’s feelings,’ he said.
The costs include today’s $ 4 million verdict, some much smaller previous fines, and a reported $ 15 million in legal fees – and the benefits tens of millions of dollars made each year.