Alex Jones ordered to pay $1.5 billion to families of victims for Sandy Hook defamation

The man behind a cruel theory that the Sandy Hook massacre was a media fabrication has been ordered to pay families of victims $1.5 billion.

Far-right radio host Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $1.5 billion ($US965 million) to families of victims of the Sandy Hook massacre.

It’s the second defamation ruling against the conspiracy theorist after he claimed the 2012 mass shooting was a hoax.

Jones, 48, has repeatedly claimed the shooting was a media fabrication, denying that gunman Adam Lanza slaughtered 26 people – 20 who were children aged between six and seven – at the Connecticut primary school and then himself on December 14, 2012, New York Post reports.

Families of the victims said Jones profited off their suffering, amassing tens of millions of dollars by repeating the lies that drove clicks to his Infowars website and helped him sell merchandise.

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Alex Jones will have to pay the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims $1.5 billion. Picture: Briana Sanchez/Pool via Reuters

The parents wept while the damages were being read.

Each of the plaintiffs was awarded a different amount for defamation and personal damages, but all were awarded tens of millions of dollars.

“Every single one of these families [was] drowning in grief, and Alex Jones put his foot right on top of them,” attorney Chris Mattei told then jury during the trial.

Meanwhile, Jones’ lawyer Norman Pattis insisted the trial was “not a case about politics.”

The families said Jones harassed them and sicced his followers on them, leading to death threats. Multiple parents of murdered children testified during the trial, recounting the pain and torture Jones’ inflicted on them while they were already grieving.

People reacting to the jury’s verdict at Jones’ defamation trial. Picture: Reuters

Jones was previously ordered to pay $49.3 million to Sandy Hook families at a separate trial in August. Picture: Reuters

Jones acknowledged the shooting while testifying, but derided the judge and said the case was a Democrat-led conspiracy to end his career.

“I’ve already said ‘I’m sorry’ hundreds of times and I’m done saying I’m sorry,” he told the jury.

Jones was not present as the verdict was read, and mocked the verdict on Infowars while it was being read.

US far-right radio host Alex Jones has been ordered to pay a huge sum to the families of Sandy Hook victims. Picture: Olivier Douliery/AFP

“Hey, folks, don’t go buying big homes,” he said, insisting he wouldn’t be paying the nearly $1 billion sum.

In August, an Austin, Texas, jury ordered him to pay $49.3 million to Sandy Hook parents in a defamation trial with different plaintiffs.He is facing a third defamation trial in Texas that will begin at the end of the year.

– with wires

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission