Ahead of a high-stakes defamation trial, CNN is now accused of misleading the court about documents relating to its assets.

U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young claims CNN slandered his security consulting firm Nemex Enterprises Inc. by claiming it illegally profited from its reputation and escape from Afghanistan during the Biden administration’s military drawdown in 2021 his business” during a segment this year on Jake Tapper’s program “The Lead.”

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

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

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“Not only did CNN and WBD fail to provide any of the promised documents identifying assets and liabilities, but CNN’s representative also failed to provide information about the net worth figure that CNN provided (but declined) in its question response . “In fact, CNN’s corporate representative made no disclosures about net worth at all, even though net worth was one of the topics covered – in fact, the main topic,” they read.

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The documents also noted that CNN could not provide financial information 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 that Warner Bros. Discovery’s financial reports be used to determine a potential punitive damages award and barring CNN from presenting evidence or arguments based on its 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 has reached out to CNN and Warner Bros. Discovery for comment.

The CNN segment at the center of the lawsuit, which was shared on social media and also repackaged for the CNN website, began with Tapper informing viewers that CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt found: “Afghans trying to Those seeking to leave the country face a black market full of promises, demanding exorbitant fees and no guarantee of safety or success.

Tapper turned to Marquardt, who said “desperate Afghans are being exploited” and are having to pay “exorbitant, often impossible amounts” to flee the country. Marquardt then lashed out at Young, showing a picture of his face on the screen and saying his company was charging $75,000 to transport a vehicle with passengers to Pakistan, for $14,500 per person to do so in the United Arab Emirates land.

“The prices are well beyond the reach of most Afghans,” Marquardt told viewers.

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Earlier this year, judges on the First District Court of Appeals for the State of Florida ruled that Young presented evidence of “actual malice, expressed malice and a level of conduct outrageous enough” to warrant a trial.

The jurors wrote: “Young provided CNN messages and emails that showed internal concerns about the completeness and veracity of the reporting – the story was ‘a mess,’ ‘incomplete,’ not ‘digitized,’ ‘the story is too 80 % “emotion, 20% hidden facts” and “full of holes like Swiss cheese,” but the station broadcast it anyway.

Original source of the article: CNN is accused of misleading the court about assets in a high-profile libel case