Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay another $473 million fine, which is why Switzerland released a suspected Iran spy

US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has again had to pay millions for his false claims about a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A judge in the American state on Thursday sentenced Jones and his company to damages of 473 million dollars (about 464 million euros). The founder of the right-wing website Infowars has claimed for years that the December 2012 massacre was staged by actors. A 20-year-old man shot and killed 20 schoolchildren and six teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, on the East Coast.

As early as October, he was ordered to pay nearly a billion dollars. Jones had appealed. He had also been sentenced to heavy fines for his false statements about the massacre. The new sum is now added to the huge sum. “This depravity and the brutal, persistent behavior of the accused justify a maximum of rejection and culpability,” the verdict said. Jones argued that he did not have the funds to pay the damages, the Washington Post reported. He was also instructed not to transfer his assets abroad until further notice. (sda/dpa)