Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his company were ordered on Thursday to pay an additional $473 million in punitive damages to families of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre over promoting the falsehood that the 2012 school shooting was a hoax, NBC News reported.
The order is part of a Connecticut lawsuit brought against Jones and his company Free Speech Systems Jones for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state Unfair Trade Practices Act. The plaintiffs testified in court that Jones profited off his lies that the school shooting never happened while they were harassed and abused by those who believed him.
Thursday’s order, imposed by Connecticut Judge Barbara Bellis, is in addition to the $965 million jurors last month ordered Jones to pay to the families of the shooting victims and an FBI agent who responded to the attack for the suffering he caused them by spreading the lies on his platforms, including his show Infowars, about the massacre.
The punitive damages Jones was ordered to pay included more than $323 million in attorney fees and costs and $150 million for violations of Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, which bars unfair and deceptive acts in business as well as unfair competition.
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, told The Associated Press he hoped that the punitive damages awarded Thursday send a message to conspiracy theorists who profit from lies.
20 children and six adults died in the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.
In February, the families of five children and four adults killed in the 2012 massacre reached a $73 million settlement with the now-bankrupt gun manufacturer Remington and its four insurers.
The settlement came more than seven years after the families filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Remington, the manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre that left 20 children and six adults dead in Newtown.