CNN accused of misleading court about net worth in high-profile defamation case over alleged defamation of Afghanistan

Ahead of a high-profile defamation trial, CNN is now being accused of lying to the court about documents on her net worth.

U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young claims CNN went after his security consulting company, Nemex Enterprises Inc., implying it illegally profited from helping people leave Afghanistan during the Biden administration’s 2021 military withdrawal from the country. .

He is now suing CNN, claiming it “destroyed his reputation and business” during a segment that year on Jake Tapper’s “The Lead.”

In September, Florida Judge William Henry ordered CNN to comply with a subpoena to provide additional financial information that the cable network submitted to its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

Although CNN claimed it would produce these files, documents obtained by Fox News Digital revealed that “Plaintiffs learned that CNN never intended to produce documents showing assets and liabilities (because they do not exist).

“Not only did CNN and WBD not provide any of the promised documents identifying assets and liabilities, but CNN’s representative also did not provide any information about the net worth that CNN provided (but denied) in its investigative response. Indeed, CNN’s corporate representative did not provide any information about net worth at all, even though net worth was one of the topics noted — indeed, the main topic,” they read.

The documents also revealed that the reason CNN could not provide financial information was because “its financial condition cannot be separated – at all – from the financial condition of its parent company” Warner Bros. Discovery.

Young’s legal team is now asking the court to issue an order requiring the financial statements of Warner Bros. Discovery to be used in determining a potential award for punitive damages and to preclude CNN from presenting any evidence or argument based on her net worth.

A civil trial is scheduled to begin on January 6, 2025, before Judge William Henry in the District Court for Bay County, Florida.

Fox News Digital reached out to CNN and Warner Bros. Discovery for a comment.

CNN’s segment centering on the suit, which was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN’s website, began with Tapper informing viewers that CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt found “Afghans trying to leave the country face a black market full of promises, demands for exorbitant fees and no guarantee of safety or success.”

Tapper lashed out at Marquardt, who said “desperate Afghans are being exploited” and must pay “exorbitant, often impossible” sums to flee the country. Marquardt then singled out Young, putting a photo of his face on the screen and saying his company was seeking $75,000 to transport a vehicle with passengers to Pakistan for $14,500 per person to end up in the United Arab Emirates.

“Prices well beyond the reach of most Afghans,” Marquardt told viewers.

Earlier this year, judges at the First District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida ruled that Young provided evidence of “actual malice, express malice and a level of conduct sufficiently outrageous” to warrant a trial.

The judges wrote: “Young offered CNN text messages and emails that showed internal concern about the completeness and veracity of the reporting — the story is a ‘mess,’ ‘incomplete,’ not ’embodied for digital,’ ‘the story is 80% emotion, 20 % obfuscated fact and ‘full of holes like Swiss cheese,’” but the network aired it anyway.