Posted on 07/11/2026 6:18:15 PM PDT by Libloather
Hunter Biden, the son of former President Biden, was awarded $1.7 million in damages on Friday as part of a defamation lawsuit against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne.
Byrne, a known denier of Biden’s victory over President Trump in the 2020 presidential election, accused the younger Biden of taking part in an $800 million bribery scheme involving Iran and failed to defend his claims in court.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson of the Central District of California ruled the ex-executive acted with “intentional misrepresentation” and “conscious disregard” for Hunter’s rights, and said Byrne continued to amplify the false allegations even after Hunter filed the lawsuit against him.
“Here, the evidence is clear and convincing that [Byrne] has engaged in intentional misrepresentation with conscious disregard towards [Hunter’s] rights,” Wilson wrote in his 25- page ruling. The judge added that Byrne’s “defamation went far beyond mere negligence,” and that Byrne had encouraged his social media followers to spread the false report and promote it further.
Wilson, an appointee of former President Reagan, awarded Hunter $1 in nominal damages, as requested, in addition to $1.7 million in punitive damages. He also ordered the former Overstock chief to pay nearly $35,000 in previously imposed court sanctions within two weeks or face an additional $1,000 penalty for each day payment is delayed after the deadline.
“This is a complete vindication for Hunter Biden against the false statements made about him by Patrick Byrne,” Bryan Sullivan, an attorney for Hunter, said in a statement. “As found by the court, Byrne had no basis to say that Hunter had any involvement with Iran whatsoever.”
The lawsuit stemmed from Byrne’s repeated claims that Hunter sought the bribe from Iran in exchange for persuading his father, who was president at the time, to release $8 billion in frozen...
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
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That will provide a lot of blow.
Hopefully it goes to his daughter, Navy.
Does this mean his baby-mama can finally collect some child support arrears?
Wouldn’t Hunter have to prove the claim was false, that Byrne knew it was false, and that the false statement was meant to cause harm? Or is that just the requirements for the little people?
The ‘law’ has nothing to do with right or wrong / innocent or guilty. It’s about what a judge allows to be discussed in court (which is a function of their biases), who is better at manipulating the jury (prosecution or defense), what facts are allowed to be considered, and the makeup of the jury. There are other factors, but the point is that it’s not simply about the truth.
If I was brought to court and was 100% innocent, I give the odds of acquittal at ~50:50. That’s truly scary.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson of the Central District of California.
85 years old.
That is my understanding of winning a libel case. How can you prove Byrne knew it was false. Was there an audio recording where Byrne said that he knew it was false but kept insisting it was false. Byrne can win on appeal.
https://www.therobingroom.net/Judge/eee904bb-5e60-4c2a-b6f1-2ab8985485e0
THE ROBING ROOM
where judges are judged
Hon. Stephen V. Wilson
District judge
C.D.Cal.
9th Circuit
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Probably the worst federal judge I have had the misfortune of having a case with. Poor scholarship in his rulings, takes a lengthy period of time to rule on motions, and then sets trial about 60 days from ruling on a dispositive motion. Sorry, but if you are going to take a month to issue a ruling, you should probably give at least 3 times that amount of time to prep a case for trial! Also had a colleague that had a case with him file an MSJ, and not only did he deny it, but he granted judgment to the NON-moving party, just to get the case out of his courtroom. There was no cross-MSJ, he just entered judgment for the other side. No evidence to support this ruling, just how he feels about the case. During oral argument he apparently knew nothing about the case (since his law clerk drafted the order for him). My guess would be this guy gets overturned a lot on appeal, letting newly minted attorneys act as federal judges. It seems like his mission is to try to keep parties from filing in federal court, out of fear of being assigned to his courtroom. That is the only explanation that makes any sense to me. It’ll be a great day for Lady Justice when this guy finally retires.
1/2/17, 6:49 PM
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Horrible judge, simply horrible.
1/2/16, 2:31 AM
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Truly dreadful.
1/1/16, 2:09 PM
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This judge is a maladapted, very unpleasant guy with too much power for someone who is as unbalanced and mean as he is.
1/2/16, 4:12 AM
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This very, very little man is a disgrace to the bench. He makes up his mind how he wants to rule and then fills in the blanks. He is very dishonest. . .
There is a reasonable chance this gets reversed on appeal, but nothing is guaranteed since most appeals fail today. Judges want to clear their dockets and they frequently care very little about applying the law properly.
And wouldn’t he have to prove damages as well?
I’d like to see Trump sue for defamation the judge who said he had been found “liable for rape”. That judge clearly knew otherwise, and he only said it so that E Jean Carrol wouldn’t be found guilty of libel for continuing to (falsely, according to the jury) say Trump raped her.
In that defamation suit Carrol should have had to prove that Trump’s claim of her lying was not true (she didn’t; the jury agreed with Trump that no rape occurred), that he knew it was not true, and that he said it anyway in order to bring harm to her (as opposed to defending his own name). And she should have had to prove that it caused financial damage to her. She struck out on every requirement.
But she’s a leftie so the law doesn’t apply to her. Two-tiered “justice”. It’s what’s for dinner, almost every dang day in this country. Served up by the finest judges Soros and the cartels can buy.
Yes. This is a corrupt judge.
Byrne has been an honest patriot at risks to himself.
Hunter B…never.
You cannot “defame” someone commonly known as a scumbag.
You cannot tear down someone already known to be in the gutter of humanity.
Hunter Biden refused to acknowledge paternity of a child PROVEN to be his via DNA.
Reagan appointee.
Good luck collecting.
If hunter gets his hands on all that money, it will be gone in a year.
Huh? I never even heard that claim before now. There’s so much that he’s probably done, why talk about claims no one has even heard of
Better pay it to a trust that pays it out monthly over 25 years. If he gets it all at once, he’ll be dead in a week. Maybe his creditors and child support could save him by garnishing it.
The Judges always go overboard for Hunter.
The Paternity / Support Judge denied Hunter Biden’s claims in Arkansas and told him he’d be treated like every other defendant in Court. That Friday he was quietly removed from the case and the new Judge quickly granted Hunter his demands.
The Bidens have so much money they don’t even claim taxes on after it goes thru 11 LLCs.
Joe got his sister’s daughter a VP position at GM while GM was waiting on an answer for, what was it, a Billion dollars in Interest Free loans.
One of the Biden grandkids lived at the WH and had a Grand wedding there.
Do you think that was reimbursed?
HERETIC!!
BLASPHEMER!!!
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