Zachary Young, a US Navy veteran, has won a $5 million (£4.1 million) defamation lawsuit against American broadcaster CNN.
Young ran a private security firm which helped Afghanistan people escape following the 2021 takeover by the Taliban. His firm, Nemex Enterprises, extracted people in Afghanistan for fees paid for by sponsors. It is estimated that these fees could total thousands of dollars.
CNN gave a five-minute report in November 2021 which showed an image of Young while a reporter discussed a ‘black market’ where people were supposedly preying on escaping Afghanistan people. The report also claimed that ‘desperate Afghans’ were being "exploited" while meeting "demands for exorbitant fees.’
The Navy veteran denied exploitation and explained instead that his firm’s fees were paid for by charities who support the removal of the Afghanistan people from the country following the US military withdrawal that left them in danger. He made an effort to also outline how he never charged the individuals themselves while also discouraging individuals from reaching out to his firm.
Following this, Young launched a defamation case against the broadcaster, whereby a six-person jury ruled in favour of him. The trial featured a number of internal messaging as evidence where CNN employees discussed Mr Young while using derogatory terms. The messages also saw other journalists express their concern about the report. CNN has offered a partial apology in March 2022 specifically for their use of the term ‘black market’. It continued to stand by the broadcast’s reporting.
Punitive damages were not handed in this trial, with a separate hearing scheduled to deal with this later on. However, following the win for Mr Young, the parties agreed on an undisclosed settlement amount out of court.
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