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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
World
David Kent

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to pay almost $1 billion to Sandy Hook families

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay almost $1 billion in damages to the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting and their families.

Infowars founder Jones must pay $965 million for spreading lies that the 2012 elementary school shooting was a hoax - and that the parents involved were actors who had faked the massacre.

There were 15 plaintiffs in total.

READ MORE: Creeslough tragedy: 12-year-old son of victim gets standing ovation for brave and emotional tribute at dad's funeral

Alex Jones of InfoWars (2018 Getty Images)

Lawyers for eight of the families claimed that Jones had used lies about the shooting to drive traffic to his website and boost sales of various products it offered.

On top of that, the families endured a decade-long campaign of harassment and death threats by Jones's followers, lawyer Chris Mattei said.

"Every single one of these families (was) drowning in grief, and Alex Jones put his foot right on top of them," Mr Mattei told jurors in Connecticut.

The Infowars founder also claimed George Washington and Jesus were to blame for the mass shooting (Channel 5)

Twenty children and six adults were killed in the shooting a decade ago.

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