Notorious far-right troll ordered to pay up to $71 million in racketeering scheme where he pretended to be a spy

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Far-right blogger and Holocaust denier Charles C. Johnson was ordered to pay at least $40 million after he was found liable in a civil racketeering case for falsely portraying himself as a U.S. intelligence asset in order to extort companies to give him large sums of money and equity.

Because he was found liable for RICO counts, some of the damages awarded by the jury to the plaintiff will be tripled, resulting in a total of approximately $71 million that Johnson would be required to pay.

“I’m disappointed I didn’t break the record. But I’m pleased to be in the top 3,” Johnson told The Independent, sharing a screenshot of the “largest pure-defamation award and settlements” in the United States over the past five years. “I’ll appeal and win on appeal,” he added.

Johnson, a notorious internet troll who briefly made a mark in the 2024 presidential election due to his past correspondence with JD Vance, was hit with a startling lawsuit last year by investment firm Point Bridge Capital and its founder, Hal Lambert.

In the complaint, filed in a Texas federal court, Lambert alleged that Johnson and his business partner Gator Greenwill had “falsely present[ed] themselves as intelligence agents or assets of U.S. government agencies” as part of a “fraud and extortion scheme.”

“If a company or investor doesn’t give in to their demands for equity or favorable investment terms, Johnson and Greenwill threaten to sabotage the companies’ contracts or funding under the guise of their false claims to be government agents,” the lawsuit said. “Johnson has wrongfully succeeded in profiting from and gaining interests in these cutting-edge technology companies using this shakedown scheme.”

The complaint alleged that Lambert first met Johnson in 2016 when the right-wing provocateur hit him up with “an unsolicited offer to help raise money for a political candidate.” Eventually, in late 2020, Point Bridge received a small investment from Johnson, which gave him a minority stake in its special-purpose vehicle (SPV) for the satellite imaging company, Umbra Space.

Additionally, Lambert also held a significant investment in Clearview AI, a facial recognition firm that had previously purchased software from Johnson, which resulted in him earning sales commissions and a stake in the company.

Shortly after Johnson’s investment in Point Bridge, the complaint noted, he demanded $100 million in Umbra shares. When he was rejected, Johnson told an Umbra executive that he was with the Pentagon and could potentially destroy the company by ensuring it didn’t receive any government contracts.

In 2023, Lambert claimed that Johnson demanded money from Point Bridge and pointed to tweets boasting about his status as an FBI informant. “This might also help you do the right thing,” Johnson wrote to Lambert. Johnson, who reportedly served as a confidential informant for FBI Special Agent Jonathan Buma, has also taken credit for brokering a relationship between the FBI and right-wing tech billionaire Peter Thiel.

Prior to this week’s trial, the court had already entered a default judgment against Johnson for defaming Lambert and Point Bridge Capital. Therefore, the jury would simply decide on the amount of damages to award the plaintiff.

Tony Ortiz, author of the Texas-based, right-leaning Substack newsletter Current Revolt, was present at the trial on Monday and detailed the proceedings in a lengthy thread on X.

“Johnson showed up to court with a wrinkled suit, his tie was on backwards and was torn at the bottom,” Ortiz pointed out, adding that Johnson did not have a lawyer and represented himself in court. He also noted that Judge Mark Pittman expressed disappointment in Johnson’s actions throughout the trial.

In opening remarks, the prosecution said that Johnson’s false claims about Lambert – which included accusations that he worked for a cartel and was taking Russian money – had caused a 90 percent decrease in investments.

Johnson said in his opening statement that “he tended to get ‘hot headed’ and that it may be due to the ‘gingerness’ in him.” The blogger added that he was “not wealthy” and that his Substack wasn’t widely read, in a seeming appeal to the jury.

Lambert testified that Johnson demanded 50 percent of his company, despite providing only an investment amounting to about 2 percent of the firm’s worth.

“After Lambert refused to give Johnson half his company, Johnson sent an email to 40 of Lambert’s clients warning them that they would be dragged into discovery during an investigation of Lambert and Point Bridge Capital,” Ortiz reported.

“Charles Johnson is a complete liar. A sociopathic liar,” Lambert testified, claiming that Johnson’s allegations led to Point Bridge seeing a drop in earned media as well as a loss of millions of dollars in client fees.

“I’ve always wanted to be an attorney, this is kind of fun,” Johnson said at one point while cross-examining Lambert, though the judge would reprimand him and even threaten Johnson with contempt for asking irrelevant questions.

The trial also saw Johnson cross-examine himself as a witness, since he acted as his own attorney. “At the end of cross examination, the judge stated that the entire thing was ‘exhausting,’” Ortiz observed. The judge likened Johnson’s behavior to a child, and said he was likely looking to be jailed so he could portray himself as a martyr.

One of the prosecution’s expert witnesses, a private investigator who once vetted confidential informants for the FBI, poked holes in Johnson’s boasts about being an intelligence agent. “At best, Johnson was a low-level informant for a low-level FBI agent,” he said, adding that it “is a lie” that Johnson is working on behalf of the government.

Meanwhile, during the recess of the trial, Johnson handed Ortiz a hand-scribbled note that said he was “going to win – but not the game you think I’m playing” before signing off with “Bastille Day 2025.”

After all of Johnson’s antics, which also saw him deliver a closing statement that mostly involved him ranting about losing his ex-wife, the jury took about an hour to deliberate. Ultimately, they found Johnson liable for $40 million in damages.

Under U.S. law, because this was part of a successful RICO civil suit, the court can triple the amount of the compensatory damages – which could leave Johnson on the hook for $71 million.

The jury found that Lambert should receive $7.5 million and Point Bridge Capital would get $8 million on the RICO counts, which increases to $22.5 million and $24 million, respectively, when trebling is included. Johnson was also found liable for $9.5 million for defamation and must pay an additional $15 million in punitive damages.

The Independent has contacted Point Bridge Capital’s attorney for comment.