Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cannot use his personal bankruptcy to escape paying at least $1.1 billion in defamation damages stemming from his repeated lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday.

  • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Ok, even if he did all that does that warrant losing everything? At what point should we stop and say “yeah thats excessive”?

    • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      When he’s destitute. What he did is completely abhorrent, disgusting, and detestable. To target the families of school shooting victims is just unconscionable. He knew he was lying but he did it to profit off of the controversy. He absolutely should lose everything.

      • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Is 1.5B considered destitute? Does the damage he did worth 1.5B dollars? Why is it special to him

        • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          You asked “at what point should we stop” and my answer is when he is destitute.

          The fine is punitive. Its a punishment and a deterrent to other charlatan shock jocks who would like nothing more than to use the suffering of others as their ramp to fame and fortune. Im not sure its ‘special’ but he is one of the most famous of these modern day snake oil salesmen and has a massive fan base.

          • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            What is the maximum punitive damages limit for a non injury suit in CT again? Or was the lawsuit trying to claim personal injury? Is this the same case where the families tried to sue for every single person he had as a follower? Lol it was like 2 TRILLION dollars they originally asked for. Is that not comically large or is that just considered destitute?

            • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              This article is for both CT and TX.

              Here is a video explaining what happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSm7sRx-0hA

              you seem to not understand the legal aspect of this, which is understandable considering how dense and nebulous the law is and can be. That video breaks it down.

              This isnt just a situation of Jones going “hey, maybe this is fake” and getting a billion dollar fine. This fine is in response to YEARS of lies, doxxing, and inciting his fanbase to harass people.

              The initial suite being for some massive amount is par for the course in litigation. Parties ALWAYS ask for some larger amount than they expect to get. Its like haggling and the initial amount is almost always meaningless for the reality of the case. Thats just how the system is for now.

              • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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                9 months ago

                Thanks, I appreciate it. I’ll look in a bit. Still not sure how years of lying translates to ‘get fucked for life’ via court dues. If he did bad thing then send him to jail, dont do a transfer of funds thats like some weird lotto shit. I wonder, has a libel case like this ever happened before?

                • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  After rewatching the video the fines arent just for the defamation and libel. Its because he basically never fully complied with the courts in multiple ways so eventually the judge just said ‘F it’ and gave a default judgement which is basically saying ‘you give up your right to fight this case’.

                  • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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                    9 months ago

                    My question is the same, are we supposed to be okay with that? Can a judge just make shit up as a punishment

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Maybe his lawyers shouldn’t have accidentally leaked all those text messages showing how undeniably guilty he was to the opposition and then refuse to answer when the opposition asked if it was a mistake and the jury wouldn’t have awarded that level of damages.

          • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            “They ruined our lives so we should at the very least be able to ruin him financially for the rest of his life”. I doubt any of this is going to be paid. Ill set up a butt slapping line a mile out if he pays 1 billion dollars.

            • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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              9 months ago

              He can’t get any more juicy loans with that judgement hanging over his head. His companies will be wound down & closed. They will also come after almost everything he’s put into his parents names.