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A jury has awarded the families of victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, $965 million in compensatory damages in their defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.
The jury also awarded the plaintiffs punitive damages, which are limited to attorneys' fees and costs. The exact amount will be determined by a judge in a separate hearing.
The damages are much larger than the $550 million asked for by prosecutors.
The lawsuit included 15 plaintiffs and involved three cases that were merged into a single trial.
Jones falsely claimed that the shooting was staged and the victims and their families were crisis actors. His comments resulted in many of his fans harassing and threatening the families of the victims.
In a previous lawsuit, Jones was ordered to pay nearly $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the parents of a child killed in the school shooting. Jones' legal team is trying to void most of the damages in that case, arguing that they are excessive under Texas law.
Jones is also facing a third lawsuit from another group of parents who lost their children in the school shooting.