Zachary Young, the U.S. Navy veteran who was awarded $5 million after a jury found that CNN had defamed him, is now suing the Associated Press in Florida’s 14th Judicial Court. The 15-page complaint, filed April 11, alleges that the wire service defamed him in a January 17 story that covered the verdict in the CNN case.
The article, written by AP reporter David Bauder, “went even further than CNN’s falsehoods [and] blatantly accused Mr. Young of engaging in criminal human smuggling,” according to the lawsuit, filed by the West Palm Beach law firm Pike & Lustig.
At issue is one particular sentence in Bauder’s story: “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 clear takeaway from AP’s wording is that Mr. Young smuggled people out of Afghanistan — i.e. engaged in the crime of human smuggling…The statement is written as a fact, and it is absolutely false,” the complaint says. “No one from AP reached out to Mr. Young for comment or clarification before publishing the ‘smuggling people’ charge. Even after publication, AP ignored a demand for retraction that Mr. Young sent (further evidencing AP’s actual and express malice).”
Instead, Young’s attorneys say his Florida-based security firm carried out “lifesaving evacuations” that were legal during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021. As a result of the AP story, which was syndicated widely, their client suffered another blow to his reputation and business, including lost client contracts and revenue, just as a jury vindicated him in the CNN case, the lawsuit adds.
“Readers of the AP piece, without full knowledge of the trial evidence, would reasonably believe that Mr. Young did, in fact, participate in a crime (human smuggling) — especially since AP presented Mr. Young’s defense (working with sponsors) in a way that sounds like an excuse, ‘but he said,’ rather than a refutation,” the complaint continues.
An AP spokesperson defended the story. “AP’s story was a factual and accurate report on the jury verdict finding in Zachary Young’s favor. We will vigorously defend our reporting against this frivolous lawsuit,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“AP provides wiring services. They know full well other media companies will pick up the story and know the story will be republished,” Young’s attorney Daniel Lustig tells Variety. “When they wrote my client was involving in smuggling people, they knew it would spread like wildfire. This was malicious and designed as a hit piece on Mr. Young and his business.”
The move comes on the heels of Young also suing Puck News for a series of stories that “repeat and spread the false claims of CNN, telling Puck’s tens of thousands of readers that Mr. Young and his company were charging the ‘panicked locals … hefty fees — sometimes tens of thousands of dollars — to escape the Taliban.” It also accused Puck of “being a mouthpiece for CNN.” Florida Circuit Court Judge William Henry, who oversaw the CNN case, is also presiding over the Puck lawsuit. (A Puck spokesperson told Fox News Digital that it “stands behind our reporting and we are confident the facts will hold up to any scrutiny.”)
The CNN trial sent shockwaves through the media industry after a Florida jury found CNN liable for defamation over its portrayal of Young, with CNN agreeing to pay a confidential settlement rather than face tens of millions of dollars in punitive damages.
Katy Svitenko, the foreperson in the CNN trial, told Variety that she would have awarded Young up to $100 million in punitive damages, over and above the $5 million in compensatory damages. “The message the jury wanted to send was to not only CNN but to all media that the general public is fed up with fake news and partial truths,” she said in response to written questions. “Reporting must be unbiased, true, and complete.” CNN settled before the jury determined the punitive damages figure.
Young’s latest lawsuit notes that the AP was not only “grossly misleading” but tied the security contractor to a serious crime. “Human smuggling is a grave felony under U.S. law (8 U.S.C. § 1324), and it is condemned as a serious crime under international law (the U.N. Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants),” the complaint says. “By accusing Mr. Young of human smuggling, AP effectively branded him a criminal.”
Young’s lawyers are fighting back at the continued mischaracterization of their client, who they say undertook dangerous efforts to evacuate Afghan allies and civilians after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021. “Young coordinated extractions for dozens of at-risk individuals from a failed state,” the lawsuit says. “Crucially, Mr. Young never charged the evacuees themselves for these rescues. Instead, Mr. Young secured funding from large outside sponsors (such as philanthropies and corporations) to cover the costs. All of Mr. Young’s evacuation activities were legal. At no point did he engage in any illegal trafficking or smuggling of persons; he operated with the knowledge of relevant authorities.
Young’s activities in Afghanistan were first covered during a segment on “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” which used the phrase “black market” to depict his services. CNN’s reporting process took a hit during the two-week trial earlier this year, with embarrassing revelations. Reporter Alex Marquardt had expressed his intention to “nail this Zach Young mfucker,” while colleague Katie Bo Lillis dubbed him a “shitbag.” Producer Michael Conte wrote that he had a “punchable face.” At the time, there was some internal pushback over Marquardt’s piece, with national security reporter Nicole Gaouette writing that it was likely “seriously expensive” to get out of Afghanistan” and “the inference running through Alex’s story that these people are just bilking desperate Afghans for their money might not be fair at all.”
