Decision comes after more than eight hours of deliberation
WATCH LIVE: Jury deliberations in CNN defamation trial underway
Navy veteran Zachary Young is accusing the network of defaming him after showing his face on-air while talking about the black market smuggling Afghans out the country for thousands of dollars.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. – A jury found that CNN committed defamation against U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young and is responsible for punitive damages on Friday after more than eight hours of deliberation.
Young alleged that CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the "black market" during the Biden administration's military withdrawal from the country in 2021. Young believes CNN "destroyed his reputation and business" by branding him an illegal profiteer" who exploited "desperate Afghans" during a November 11, 2021, segment that first aired on CNN’s "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
The decision comes after three-plus years of litigation and a wild, sometimes chaotic, eight-day trial. 14th Judicial Circuit Court Judge William S. Henry, who presided over the trial in Bay County, Florida, previously ruled that Young "did not act illegally or criminally" despite what the network reported on air.
CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: CLOSING ARGUMENTS MADE AS JURY BEGINS TO DELIBERATE LAWSUIT AGAINST NETWORK
U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young alleged that CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the "black market" during the Biden administration's military withdrawal from the country in 2021. (Jessica Costescu)
Tapper first teased the 2021 segment at the center of the suit by warning CNN viewers of "desperate Afghans still trying to escape the country being preyed on by folks demanding that they pay up big time to get out."
Later in the show, Tapper reminded viewers that the story on "desperate Afghans" being "preyed upon" was up next.
Tapper’s teasers ended up being a key part of the trial, as jurors asked to take another look at them during the deliberation process.
Once the much-hyped segment began, Tapper said Marquardt found "Afghans trying to get out of the country face a black market full of promises, demands of exorbitant fees, and no guarantee of safety or success."
Tapper tossed to Marquardt, who said "desperate Afghans are being exploited" and need to pay "exorbitant, often impossible amounts" to flee the country.
Marquardt then singled out Young, putting a picture of his face on the screen and saying his company was asking for $75,000 to transport a vehicle of passengers to Pakistan or $14,500 per person to end up in the United Arab Emirates.
"Prices well beyond the reach of most Afghans," Marquardt told viewers.
CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt was shown allegedly attempting to call Zachary Young in the segment at the center of the lawsuit.
CNN then aired Marquardt allegedly attempting to call Young, who did not answer the phone.
"In a text message, he told CNN that Afghans trying to leave are expected to have sponsors pay for them," Marquardt said, adding that Young told the network evacuation costs are "highly volatile and based on environmental realities."
Marquardt then said Young "repeatedly declined to break down the cost or say if he’s making money," before playing a clip of an anonymous sympathetic man who couldn’t afford to have his family evacuated from Afghanistan.
Marquardt went back to Young, saying he received another text message.
"In another message, that person offering those evacuations, Zachary Young, he wrote, ‘Availability is extremely limited, and demand is high’… he goes on to say, ‘That’s how economics works, unfortunately,’" Marquardt told viewers.
Tapper responded, "Unfortunately, hmm," before thanking Marquardt for the report.
No other people or companies were named other than Young.
The phone call became a point of contention during the trial, as the plaintiff suggested Marquardt didn’t really place a call to Young and behind-the-scenes footage of the segment showed Marquardt joking it was "theater" to colleagues. But Marquardt testified that he called the number he believed to belong to Young and dismissed the "theater" joke as a reference to "Saturday Night Live."
CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: PLAINTIFF ACCUSES NETWORK OF FAKING CRITICAL PHONE CALL FOR ‘THEATER’
The segment at the heart of the trial first aired on "The Lead with Jake Tapper." (CNN/Screenshot)
CNN host Jake Tapper and correspondent Alex Marquardt during the segment at the center of the defamation lawsuit. (CNN/Screenshot)
The segment was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN's website. The Marquardt report was re-aired Nov. 13 on Jim Acosta’s CNN show and multiple times on CNN International.
Every second of the segment was picked apart during the trial, with CNN’s legal team insisting Young was not a major element of the story and the plaintiff’s team suggesting the "black market" implication essentially ruined Young’s career as a defense contractor, where that language was specifically mentioned as grounds for termination in a contract he signed.
Young's legal team obtained damning CNN internal messages through discovery repeatedly showing staffers expressing overt hostility towards the Navy veteran. Among those presented to the jury include one calling him a "shitbag" an "a--hole" one saying he has a "punchable face."
Marquardt's own message telling a colleague "we're gonna nail this Zachary Young mf---er" was often cited throughout the trial.
At one point, CNN senior national security editor Thomas Lumley was grilled in court after internal messages showed he was highly skeptical of the "pretty flawed" report. Lumley was called as a witness after internal messages showed he felt the report was "full of holes like Swiss cheese."
Young, who became emotional on the witness stand when discussing the segment’s impact on his marriage, also testified that he rescued at least 22 women from Afghanistan, but that information was never reported by CNN.
CNN issued an on-air apology on March 25, 2022, when substitute anchor Pamela Brown was sitting in Tapper’s chair. However, several CNN staffers who took the witness stand said he didn’t feel the apology was necessary and Adam Levine testified that the apology was only issued for legal purposes.
The trial also includes Judge Henry scolding CNNN lead counsel David Axelrod, who is not the on-air pundit with the same name, several times and forcing him to apologize to Young on the spot for calling him a "liar" when evidence proved he didn’t lie about failing to earn work in his field on the heels of the CNN segment airing.
Axelrod had insisted a document showing Young still had a security clearance was proof he was able to find work after the CNN segment aired, but it ultimately came out that the security clearance was dropped in 2022.
This is a developing story, more to come…
Brian Flood is a media editor/reporter for FOX News Digital. Story tips can be sent to
