A U.S. Navy veteran who was awarded $5 million in a defamation case against CNN filed a lawsuit challenging the Associated Press on Friday.
A Florida jury ruled in favor of Zachary Young in January. The veteran sued the network over a 2021 segment aired on The Lead with Jake Tapper. The story centered around allegations of profiteering in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, specifically focusing on organizations that charged high prices for evacuations.
Young said he operated legally and never profited from Afghans.
“Rather than restore Mr. Young’s good name, the media coverage of his court victory created new libel,” Daniel Lustig and Michael J. Pike, attorneys representing Young, said in the complaint filed Friday.
Law & Crime
Why It Matters
The CNN defamation case was closely watched by media organizations to assess the limits of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech protections.
Newsweek reached out to the Associated Press via email for comment on Friday.
What To Know
The lawsuit filed Friday accuses the Associated Press of defamation and libel. The filing focuses on a January 17 article written by reporter David Bauder.
“Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan, but he said he worked exclusively with deep-pocketed outside sponsors like Bloomberg and Audible,” the story stated.
Young’s lawyers said the statement is “categorically false.”
“By accusing Mr. Young of human smuggling, AP effectively branded him a criminal,” Lustig and Pike wrote.
The attorneys said that the outlet previously used the term “smuggling” to describe criminal conduct such as human trafficking, drug operations and transnational crime.
The lawsuit said that the Associated Press “knew or recklessly disregarded the truth.”
A retraction request by Young was ignored by the outlet, the lawsuit alleged.
Young’s attorneys said he has suffered humiliation, mental anguish and loss of business opportunities as a result of the reporting.
“In essence, AP’s defamatory statement dealt another blow to Plaintiffs’ reputation and trade, exacerbating the damage that CNN’s reporting had already inflicted,” Lustig and Pike wrote.
What People Are Saying
Attorneys Daniel Lustig and Michael J. Pike, in a lawsuit: “In covering the story, AP took CNN’s false and defamatory narrative to a new level – it escalated it.”
What Happens Next
Young is asking the Associated Press for compensatory and special damages in an amount to be determined at trial, as well as the repayment of any income the outlet gained from the alleged false statements about Young.
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