A Florida jury concluded the network smeared the man’s reputation, awarding $5 million for losses and suffering and weighing additional punitive damages.

A Florida jury found CNN liable on Friday in a high-stakes defamation trial against U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young, who alleged that the network maligned him as an “illegal profiteer” with a report on Afghan evacuees being charged thousands of dollars to flee the country following the U.

CNN will have to fork over at least $5 million to a U.S. Navy veteran after it lost a defamation trial in Florida on Friday. A Panama City, Florida, jury ruled that CNN had defamed security contractor Zachary Young when it aired a 2021 report that said he was part of a “black market” that price-gouged those attempting to flee Afghanistan after the U.

A Florida jury has found CNN guilty of libeling a Navy veteran who claimed the network destroyed his reputation. Zachary Young said CNN rendered him “permanently unemployable” when they ran a report that falsely accused him of making money off of helping desperate people flee Afghanistan.

Zachary Young alleged CNN defamed him in a report by chief security correspondent Alex Marquardt that said he operated in a "black market."

A jury has found CNN guilty of libeling Navy veteran, Zachary Young, who said CNN rendered him “permanently unemployable.”

CNN has been ordered to pay $5 million for defaming a security contractor in a 2021 story about desperate Afghan refugees seeking to flee their country. The contractor, Zachary Young, sued in 2022, alleging that his livelihood was destroyed after the network accused him of operating in a “black market.