Navy veteran suing Associated Press over Afghanistan story says 'smuggling' language implied criminal conduct

Smuggling could be the new black sector in Bay County Florida if U S Navy veteran Zachary Young s defamation lawsuit against the Associated Press goes to trial Young who successfully sued CNN for defamation earlier this year alleged that CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the black realm during the Biden administration's military withdrawal from the country in Throughout the CNN trial Young s legal group pointed out the term black industry is typically used to describe illegal behavior When covering the trial in January AP media reporter David Bauder wrote that Young s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan Young is now seeking punitive damages in a defamation lawsuit against the AP for an article that went even further than CNN s falsehoods and on Saturday updated the complaint to include Associated Press articles that use the term smuggling to describe criminal conduct NAVY VETERAN WHO PROVED CNN DEFAMED HIM SUES ASSOCIATED PRESS SAYS HE WAS FALSELY PAINTED AS SMUGGLER Young s counsel Daniel Lustig from Pike Lustig submitted examples of the AP using the terms smuggling facilitators and smuggle when referring to illegal behavior often related to deadly human trafficking The lawsuit which alleges the AP blatantly accused Mr Young of engaging in criminal human smuggling contends that the AP has used the term smuggling in dozens of prior articles to describe plainly criminal conduct such as human trafficking drug operations and transnational crime AP headlines submitted include UK leader tells Interpol meeting world must wake up to threat from people-smugglers Panama arrests people for smuggling Chinese displaced persons through the Darien Gap Florida man at center of fatal human smuggling matter pleads not guilty in Minnesota US regime indicts Guatemalan suspect on smuggling charges over deaths of settlers in trailer and plenty of more Young is seeking the same venue for his lawsuit against the AP as he had with CNN Bay County Florida The court previously ascertained that Young did nothing illegal The AP which has stood by its reporting since Young s lawsuit was filed did not instantly respond to a request for comment on examples provided by Lustig U S NEWS WORLD ANALYSIS RETRACTS AP ARTICLE ABOUT VETERAN ZACHARY YOUNG BUT AP STANDS BY THE STORYLustig disclosed the CNN trial was proof that news organizations shouldn t automatically receive the benefit of the doubt The CNN trial presented us exactly how media companies operate under pressure and how far they ll go to avoid responsibility when they know they ve published something false That harm is even more serious when the target is a veteran who served this country honorably We re not intimidated by the Associated Press Lustig recounted Fox News Digital We trust a Bay County jury to look at the facts Lustig continued Just like they did before Young believes the AP acted with actual malice and is seeking damages in excess of unique of interest costs and attorneys fees along with punitive damages JURY FINDS CNN COMMITTED DEFAMATION AGAINST NAVY VETERAN SETTLEMENT REACHED ON PUNITIVE DAMAGESLast week U S News World Document retracted its republished version of the AP record but the AP continued to stand by its reporting AP s story was a factual and accurate document on the jury verdict finding in Zachary Young s favor We will vigorously defend our reporting against this frivolous lawsuit an AP spokesperson narrated Fox News Digital Young s club has continued to amp up pressure on the AP filing another amendment on Monday to include the news organization referring to the lawsuit as frivolous to media outlets The AP did not directly respond to a request for comment In January a six-person jury decided Young was owed million in lost earnings million in personal damages such as pain and suffering and noted that punitive damages were warranted against CNN A settlement was reached before punitive damages were decided by the jury