AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas court on Friday slashed a $50 million judgment to $1.5 million against Infowars founder Alex Jones over falsely calling 2012 school shooting a hoax.
The ruling does not affect a $1.4 billion judgement against Jones in Connecticut, but is a significant legal victory for Jones after he and his company, Free Speech Systems, were found liable for damages for claiming the mass shooting didn’t happen.
The unanimous opinion of by the Texas Third Court of Appeals found that Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis did not show evidence that harassment enflamed by Jones’ hoax claims rose to a level that would allow them to exceed the state’s $750,000 cap on damages for each plaintiff.
Heslin and Lewis’s 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was among 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut. The lawsuit and 2022 verdict against Jones marked the first time Jones was held financially liable for peddling lies about the massacre, claiming it was faked by the government to tighten gun laws.
Jones, who portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights, conceded during the trial that the attack was “100% real” and that he was wrong to have lied about it. But Heslin and Lewis told jurors that an apology wouldn’t suffice and called on them to make Jones pay for the years of suffering he has put them and other Sandy Hook families through.
Jones’ trial attorney Andino Reynal had said immediately after the verdict that Jones would appeal the damages amount, and predicted it would be reduced to $1.5 million.
Jones and his company have filed for bankruptcy, and those legal proceedings continue. The satirical website The Onion also moved to take over Jones' Infowars platforms and turn his bullhorn of conspiracy theories into parody sites.
FILE - Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones speaks to the media after arriving at the federal courthouse for a hearing in front of a bankruptcy judge in Houston, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
GENEVA (AP) — FIFA banned three Argentina players on Friday, including a 10-match suspension for midfielder Leandro Paredes, for striking Spain opponents after losing the World Cup final.
The ban for Paredes — who grabbed Spain's Eric Garcia by the throat and pushed Gavi to the ground — ranks with the FIFA sanctions for Uruguay forward Luis Suárez in 2014 as among the most severe in World Cup history.
Argentina defender Nahuel Molina was handed a seven-game ban while Thiago Almada was given a one-game suspension. FIFA imposed fines of $90,000 on Paredes and Molina, and $30,000 for Almada.
The ban for Paredes is effectively a one-year expulsion from the Argentina team as the FIFA calendar for national team schedules includes 10 games through June 2027.
All of those games could be friendlies with no competitive games currently scheduled.
Gavi also was banned for one game, which is a Nations League match for Spain against England at Wembley on Sept. 26.
An Argentina coach, Roberto Ayala, also got a three-game ban and $30,000 fine.
The Argentine Football Association was fined $110,000 for a range of incidents during the World Cup including players carrying a political banner about the Falkland Islands after the semifinal win against England, and discriminatory chants by fans.
AFA also was ordered by FIFA to spend $100,000 on anti-racism projects. Argentina received $34 million in World Cup prize money from FIFA.
AFA can appeal the longer sanctions and fines to FIFA, and likely after at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“The AFA legal department will, in a timely manner, request from FIFA the grounds for the reviewable rulings in order to file appeals with the governing body’s appeal committee, while retaining the future option of appealing to the CAS as a final recourse,” the federation said in a statement.
In 2014, Suárez was banned from all soccer for four months, including for his new club Barcelona, and eight more competition games for Uruguay for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in a World Cup group stage game in Brazil.
Paredes' 10-game ban equals that in 2013 for Josip Simunic of Croatia after winning a World Cup qualifying playoff. Simunic used a megaphone to lead fans chanting a slogan used by the country's pro-Nazi regime during World War II.
The on-field clashes at last month's final in East Rutherford, New Jersey — which were charged by FIFA as assault cases — came after Argentina lost a testy final to Spain where it was mostly outplayed and barely created a scoring chance.
Spain forward Ferran Torres scored the only goal in the second period of extra time, after Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off.
FIFA disciplinary judges also ordered Argentina to play its next home game in a stadium limited to 50% of capacity. FIFA deferred a second stadium sanction and a $100,000 for probationary periods.
AP Sports Writers Ken Maguire in London and Carlos Rodriguez in Mexico City contributed to this report
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
FILE - Argentina's Leandro Paredes (5) kicks at Spain's Eric Garcia (4) as assistant referee Tomaz Klancnik, of Slovenia, tries to break up a scuffle after the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
FILE - Argentina's Leandro Paredes (5) knocks down Spain's Gavi (9) as Argentina coaches, right, scuffle with Spain's Eric García (4) after the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
FILE - Argentina's Leandro Paredes (5) knocks down Spain's Gavi (9) during scuffle after the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
