Newsmax Agrees To Pay $40 Million To Settle Smartmatic’s Defamation Lawsuit Over False Claims Of Fraud In 2020 Election

A new regulatory filing showed that Newsmax agreed to pay $40 million in a settlement to end Smartmatic’s 2020 presidential election defamation lawsuit.

This lawsuit, filed in early 2021, was centered around Newsmax’s false claims that Smartmatic’s machines tampered with the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. 

>Smartmatic Sues Fox News & Hosts Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro & Maria Bartiromo For $2.7 Billion

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the software company sought “compensatory, consequential and punitive damages to be determined at trial.”

A deal was reached briefly before the case was scheduled for trial.

“Newsmax Media reached a settlement agreement with Smartmatic on September 26, 2024, pursuant to which all claims will be released by Smartmatic for consideration, including a cash amount of $40 million payable over time and the issuance of a five-year cash exercise warrant to purchase 2,000 shares of Series B preferred stock at an exercise price of $5,000 per share,” the SEC filing states. 

“As of the date hereof, the Company has made payments under the settlement agreement totaling $20 million,” it said. “Payment of the remaining balance will be made in installments of $10 million on or prior to each of March 31, 2025 and June 30, 2025. The payments will be made from the Company’s existing cash on hand, and no proceeds of this Offering will be used to make the remaining payments.”

“Management believes the settlement with Smartmatic will, subject to the payment of all consideration in a timely manner, eliminate future legal expenses the Company would have expected to bear related to this suit, which could have included costly appellate legal actions and other matters,” the filing declared.

Following last year’s settlement, Newsmax mentioned that it “acknowledges that the Court found that “allegations regarding whether the [2020 U.S. presidential election] and its results were somehow altered or manipulated by Smartmatic are factually false/untrue.'”

In early 2021, Smartmatic also filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News and its hosts, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro and Maria Bartiromo.

Two years later, they demanded that Fox News issue a retraction over the “lies” it made about the 2020 election.