CNN and Zachary Young, the Navy veteran a Florida jury found that the network had defamed, reached a settlement late on Friday afternoon, just hours after the initial verdict came down.
The jury had initially awarded Young $5 million in damages and was considering how much more to give Young in punitive damages when the two parties struck an agreement that wiped out the earlier award.
Neither party is to reveal the figure CNN is paying out to Young as per the conditions of the settlement, which also means CNN can no longer appeal the ruling.
A CNN spokesperson issued the following statement to Mediaite after the settlement was reached:
We remain proud of our journalists and are 100% committed to strong, fearless and fair-minded reporting at CNN, though we will of course take what useful lessons we can from this case.
Young's case against the network was based upon a November 2021 report in which the network's chief national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt, reported that bad actors were reportedly running a black market and charging exorbitant fees to Afghans attempting to flee their country after the Taliban retook control of it earlier that year. Young was named and his face was shown during segments on both Jake Tapper and Jim Acosta's shows.