Callum Jones
Radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is facing more penalties after his trial was moved to the punitive damages phase.
Jones already owes a vast amount of money for spreading conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Just last month, a jury ordered Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, to pay $965 million to the victims' families of Sandy Hook after a Connecticut court ruled that Jones persuaded his large audience that the shooting was a hoax.
It was also concluded by the jury that more financial penalties should be issued to Jones and his company in the form of punitive damages.
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The amount that would amass to will be determined following the court hearings on Friday (4 November) and Monday (7 November).
Yesterday's hearing was based on plaintiffs’ legal fees and was held not in person but via a video conference.
Earlier this week, both sides reached an agreement where the families of victims from Sandy Hook would receive one-third of the amount of the compensatory damages - which amounts to nearly $322 million.
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In court fillings, the plaintiffs' lawyers suggested under the Unfair Trade Practices Act a total of $2.75 trillion could be awarded under one calculation.
Attorneys Alinor Sterling, Christopher Mattei and Joshua Koskoff, said: "Justice requires that the Court’s punitive damages award, punish and deter this evil conduct.
"Only a punitive damages assessment of historic size will serve those purposes."
On the opposite side, Norm Pattis, Jones' lawyer asked the judge not to award any punitive damages.
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In a brief, Jones' lawyer wrote: "Few defendants alive could pay damages of this sum.
"Indeed, most defendants would be driven into bankruptcy, their livelihood destroyed, and their future transformed into the bleak prospect of a judgment debtor saddled for decades with a debt that cannot be satisfied.
"To regard this as anything other than punishment would be unjust."
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In Monday's briefing, the judge will hear the debate about damages under the Unfair Trade Practices Act.
In a plaintiffs' court filing, they said the Jones' comments about Sandy Hook had been viewed an estimated 550 million times between 2012 and 2018 - which they translated into 550 million violations of the Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Their attorney wrote: "If each of the 550 million violations were assessed at the $5,000 statutory maximum, the total civil penalty would be $2,750,000,000,000 ($2.75 trillion)."