AP Photo/Jae C.
Hong
A federal judge in Los Angeles awarded $1.7 million in punitive damages to Hunter Biden on Friday as part of a defamation case against Patrick Byrne , the former CEO of Overstock.com.
Byrne claimed in 2023 that Biden pledged to get his father, then-President Joe Biden , to unfreeze $8 billion in Iranian assets in exchange for an $800 million bribe.
The younger Biden’s lawsuit says Byrne made this claim in an interview in June of that year, and again in a social media post the day after the Oct. 7 attacks.
“The clear implication of Byrne’s October 8, 2023 posts was that Plaintiff’s allegedly criminal and corrupt actions had contributed to the terrorist attacks by Hamas,” the complaint stated.
On Friday, Judge Stephen Wilson of the Central District of California issued a ruling awarding Hunter Biden punitive damages:
Here, the evidence is clear and convincing that defendant has engaged in intentional misrepresentation with conscious disregard towards plaintiff’s rights.
Defendant’s defamation went far beyond mere negligence.
In fact, defendant has admitted that after the offending article was published, defendant repeatedly reposted the article across social media platforms and encouraged his followers on those platforms to promote it further.
In fact, during the pendency of this litigation, even while Defendant was defying the Court’s orders and failing to appear at hearings, Defendant appeared on talk shows and restated the same defamatory statements at issue in the case.
Biden sought $1 in nominal damages, which Wilson granted.
The judge also ordered Byrne to pay about $35,000 in court sanctions.
“This is a complete vindication for Hunter Biden against the false statements made about him by Patrick Byrne,” said Bryan Sullivan , an attorney for Biden.
“As found by the court, Byrne had no basis to say that Hunter had any involvement with Iran whatsoever.”
Byrne is a longtime supporter of Donald Trump and has promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and Covid vaccines.
He resigned as CEO of Overstock in August 2019 after he disclosed having a romantic relationship with convicted Russian spy Maria Butina .
The post Hunter Biden Scores $1.7 Million in Damages From Former Overstock CEO in Defamation Case first appeared on Mediaite .