The man who sued CNN and the network for defamation failed to reach a financial settlement after mediation talks broke down last week.
Plaintiff Zachary Young claims CNN defamed his security consulting firm, Nemex Enterprises Inc., by implying that it illegally profited from helping people flee Afghanistan during the Biden administration’s 2021 troop withdrawal. Young, a U.S. Navy veteran, believes CNN “destroyed my reputation and my business by branding me an illicit profiteer who exploits desperate Afghans,” Young said on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” on Nov. 11, 2021.
Newsbusters of the Media Research Center has exclusively obtained documents showing the case is set to go to trial in January 2025.
“The mediator files a report with the court and informs it that a mediation conference was held on September 11, 2024, and that the parties and counsel of record appeared in person. The court further informs it that the parties were unable to reach an agreement and that an impasse was declared,” according to court documents obtained by NewsBusters.
A defamation lawsuit against CNN could expose the company’s financial secrets as courts seek to reveal its net worth.
Jake Tapper is at the center of a defamation lawsuit against CNN. (CNN/Screenshot)
NewsBusters Deputy Editor Nicholas Fondacaro writes that “the amount offered to settle the lawsuit was not disclosed,” but “it would have to be substantial to nullify the appeal of a billion dollars (and possibly more) between compensatory, emotional and punitive damages.”
Fondacaro previously reported that Young’s lead attorney, Belle Friedman, said there was “no chance this case will be dropped before trial” because her client’s goal was to “smear CNN.”
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, Judge William Henry cleared the way for Young to issue a subpoena to hand over sensitive financial information that CNN had provided to its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. The decision essentially allowed Young and his legal team to determine the cable network’s net worth.
The CNN segment at the center of the lawsuit, which was shared on social media and repackaged on CNN’s website, begins with Tapper telling viewers that CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt “faces a black market full of promises, exorbitant fees and no guarantees of safety or success.”
Tapper hurled a slogan at Marquardt, who said “desperate Afghans are being exploited” and are being forced to pay “enormous and often impossible sums” to leave the country. Marquardt singled out Young, flashed a picture of his face on the screen and said his company was charging $14,500 per person to transport a vehicle with passengers to Pakistan, where they would then land in the United Arab Emirates.
“These are prices that most Afghans cannot afford,” Marquardt told viewers.
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A photo of the original author, Zachary Young, was aired by CNN during the segment. (CNN/Screenshot)
“We got Young’s number and called him, but he wouldn’t answer. In a text message to CNN, he said, ‘People who want to leave Afghanistan need to have a sponsor to pay for their evacuation. If someone contacts us, we need to know if they have a sponsor so they can pay for evacuation. The cost of evacuation is very volatile and based on environmental realities,’” Marquardt continued. “Young declined to elaborate on the cost or say if he was making any money.”
No other person or company was mentioned besides Young.
“In another message, Zachary Young, who suggested evacuations, wrote, ‘Availability is extremely limited and demand is high,’ and… he said, ‘Unfortunately, that’s just how the economy works,'” Marquardt told viewers.
“Unfortunately, um,” Tapper replied, thanking Marquardt for the report.
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CNN’s Jake Tapper is being sued over a 2021 story centered on the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
Young claimed CNN portrayed her as a bad guy who preys on desperate people, using terms like “black market,” “exploitative” and “excessive.”
Earlier this year, Florida’s First Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled on June 12 that Young had presented sufficient evidence to proceed with her defamation lawsuit.
“Young has presented sufficient evidence of actual malice, manifest malice, and an outrageous level of conduct to open the door for him to seek punitive damages,” the court document states. “Whether Young ultimately prevails is not the question before us.”
The judges wrote that Young presented CNN messages and emails that “raised internal concerns about the integrity and truthfulness of the story, saying the story was ‘a mess,’ ‘incomplete,’ ‘not digitally fleshed out,’ ’80 percent emotion, 20 percent factual nonsense,’ and ‘like Swiss cheese, full of holes. ‘” But the network still aired it.
“Young also presented an exchange of messages with Marquardt just hours before publication in which he advised that the report contained factual inaccuracies. CNN published it anyway,” the judges wrote, adding that other internal communications showed CNN employees had “little respect” for Young and used profanity and derogatory language when discussing her privately.
According to court documents, “Marquardt called him a ‘fucking young man’ and joked, ‘This is your funeral, you idiot.'”
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“CNN argued on appeal that it had no intent to cause harm, that the language was opinionated or vague, and that the internal communications were a show of journalistic pretension reflecting a sincere belief in the report,” the justices wrote.
The civil case is scheduled to begin before Judge Henry in the Bay County Circuit Court for Florida on January 6, 2025.
