Connecticut court upholds $965M verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook

The Connecticut Appellate Court on Friday affirmed a $965 million verdict from 2022 against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, determining there’s “sufficient evidence” to support the damages awarded to relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims and an FBI agent.

In its unanimous opinion, the court cited the “traumatic threats and harassment” the families endured “stemming from the lies, as propagated by the defendants, that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.”

“Our review of the record reveals that there was sufficient evidence to support the $965,000,000 in compensatory damages awarded by the jury,” according to the 62-page decision. It marks the largest jury verdict in Connecticut history.

The appellate court did grant Jones a $150 million reprieve. It determined the plaintiffs “failed to assert a legally viable” claim under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and that $150 million in punitive damages awarded by the lower court must be vacated, noting the plaintiffs alleged injury came from false language and not from speech related to advertising, marketing or the sale of goods.

An email was sent seeking comment from Jones’ attorney.

Jones now owes a total of roughly $1.2 billion, counting the $965 million to the Connecticut families and nearly $50 million awarded by a Texas jury to the parents of a Sandy Hook child who was killed.

Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in 2022, and the sale of his Infowars platform is part of that case. A bid by The Onion satirical news outlet to buy Infowars is scheduled to return Monday to a Texas courtroom.