HARTFORD, Conn. — Alex Jones built a media machine that generated enormous profit by spreading conspiratorial lies and the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims who were among his targets deserve millions of dollars in compensation, the family lawyers told the jury as their defamation case against Jones neared an end Thursday.
In his closing argument, family lawyer Christopher Mattei did not suggest a damage amount, but presented the jury with a formula for reaching one: Determine fair compensation for a person harmed by a single lie, told once. Then multiply that sum by 550 million, a figure that an expert trial witness for the families said reflects Jones’ massive audience reach across his broadcast, internet and social media platforms.
“You may say that is astronomical,” Mattei said. “It is. It is. It is exactly what Alex Jones did. He built a lie machine to push this stuff out. He built a lie machine. … But you know something, that’s not enough. We know that 550 million is just a fraction of the people that got that message.”
