A seven-figure day was secured for a former first son after a California judge ruled against the founder and former CEO of Overstock.com.
Friday, Burisma Holdings board member turned artist Hunter Biden managed his latest in a history of lucrative endeavors after filing suit against Patrick Byrne. Nearly three years after first alleging defamation, the son of former President Joe Biden was awarded $1.7 million in damages tied to claims about Iranian assets and Hamas’ terror attack on Israel.
“Here, the evidence is clear and convincing that defendant has engaged in intentional misrepresentation with conscious disregard towards plaintiff’s rights,” asserted U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Stephen Wilson in his 25-page ruling. “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.”
The suit traced back to Byrne’s June 2023 interview with Capitol Times Magazine for its inaugural edition wherein he’d claimed the younger Biden “was reaching out to the Iranian government in the fall of 2021” about the potential of then-President Biden moving to “unfreeze” $8 billion in Iranian assets “in return for $800 million being funneled into a numbered account for [the Bidens].”
Months later, the day after the October 7, 2023 terror attack against Israel by Hamas, Byrne was said to have “reposted the false and defamatory statements about Plaintiff’s allegedly corrupt and treasonous dealings with Iran on X … apparently so that his hundreds of thousands of social media followers and others would be reminded of the false statements … 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.”
Indicating Byrne’s own admission to having “repeatedly reposted” the article following its initial publication, Wilson went on to write in his ruling, “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.”
Based on those details, the judge determined, “Punitive damages are therefore not only appropriate but necessary.”
In addition to the $1.7 million, Byrne was ordered to pay nearly $35,000 in monetary sanctions along with $1 in nominal damages. Failure to comply would result in an initial fine of $1,000 per day after the 14-day deadline.
Speaking on behalf of his client, Biden’s attorney Bryan Sullivan stated, “This is a complete vindication for Hunter Biden against the false statements made about him by Patrick Byrne.”
The lawyer added, “As found by the court, Byrne had no basis to say that Hunter Biden had any involvement with Iran whatsoever.”
