FIRST ON FOX – A Delaware court ordered Friday that CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery must hand over detailed financial documents if they are subpoenaed in support of the plaintiff’s high-stakes defamation suit, or else the company must provide an “affidavit” that they will not. exist.

U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young claims CNN defamed his security consulting company, Nemex Enterprises Inc., by suggesting it profited illegally when it helped people flee Afghanistan during The Biden administration military withdrawal from the country in 2021. Young believes CNN has “destroyed its reputation and its business” during a segment on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

A Florida judge previously agreed with Young’s legal team that CNN should hand over sensitive financial information it has cable network presented to parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, to determine CNN’s net worth. However, Young’s lawyers say they have not received the proper documents and have filed a motion to compel in Delaware, where Warner Bros. is based. Discovery.

CNN faces defamation lawsuit over AFGHANISTAN withdrawal story: ‘PROOF OF CURRENT EVIL’

The photo of plaintiff Zachary Young was broadcast by CNN during the segment in question. (CNN/screenshot)

Young’s attorneys, Blake Bennett and Joe Delich, said Warner Bros. Discovery “failed to complete financial discovery” related to cash flow statements and balance sheets.

“It is simply inconceivable that Warner Bros. Discovery is unable to provide information about its wholly owned subsidiary’s cash flow and balance sheet,” Delich told Judge Lynne Parker.

“Warner Bros. Discovery produced some documents but did not produce any cash flow information or any kind of balance sheet information,” he continued. “We know that Warner Bros. Discovery has the ability to do this.”

Delich then explained that Warner Bros. Discovery prepares consolidated financial statements publicly filed with the SEC.

“To prepare consolidated financial statements, there has to be something to consolidate,” Delich said.

DEFAMATION LAWSUIT AGAINST CNN COULD EXPOSE COMPANY’S FINANCIAL SECRETS AS COURT SEEKS TO DEMONSTRATE NET WORTH

CNN host Jake Tapper and correspondent Alex Marquardt during the segment at the center of a defamation lawsuit. (CNN/screenshot)

Jennifer Ying, representing Warner Bro. Discovery, argued that the plaintiff’s team filed a “premature motion” before the return date of the subpoena, and the subpoena failed to specify cash flow statements and balance sheets. Ying also said that Warner Bro. Discovery has explained “repeatedly” that the documents do not exist.

“If it doesn’t exist, we can’t be forced to produce anything,” Ying said.

“I have told them twice now that such information does not exist,” she continued. “They refused to accept that. We cannot create information that simply does not exist.”

Judge William Henry, who is presiding over the case in Florida, previously ordered that CNN is required to “produce anything in its possession, custody or control,” but said there is nothing in the law that requires a CNN executive to produce a oath. statement or declaration that the documents do not exist.

Judge Lynne Parker disagreed and said Young’s lawyers must file a new subpoena detailing cash flow statements and balance sheets, and CNN’s parent company will be held liable if the information is not promptly turned over.

An Afghan woman wearing a burqa searches for recyclables among plastic waste at a landfill on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif on September 28, 2024. (Photo by Atif Aryan / AFP) (Photo by ATIF ARYAN/AFP via ) (Photo by ATIF ARYAN/AFP via Getty Images)

“Well, CNN doesn’t have to provide an affidavit, but Warner Bros. it does You’ll quote Warner Brothers asking for these two specific things, and they’ll either produce documents or give them to you. an affidavit that there is none,” Judge Parker said.

“Issuing the subpoena immediately,” she continued. “They have 20 days from the date of issue to respond.”

A civil trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 6 before Judge Henry of the Circuit Court for Bay County, Florida.

CNN’s segment centering on the suit, which was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN’s website, began with Tapper informing viewers that CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt found that “Afghans trying to leave the country faces a black market full of promise. , exorbitant fee requests and no guarantee of safety or success.”

CNN ACCUSED OF WITHHOLDING CRITICAL DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO DETERMINE VALUE BEFORE DEFAMATION TRIAL

CNN host Jake Tapper. (CNN)

Tapper threw it to Marquardt, who said:desperate Afghans are being exploited” and must pay “exorbitant, often impossible” sums to flee the country. Marquardt then singled out Young, putting a picture of his face on the screen and saying his company was demanding $75,000 to transport a vehicle of passengers to Pakistan or $14,500 per person to reach the UAE.

“The prices are way beyond the reach of most Afghans,” Marquardt told viewers.

No other person or company was named besides Young, who claimed that CNN, by using the terms “black market,” “exploitative” and “exorbitant,” inaccurately painted him as a bad actor preying on people desperate.

Internal communications between CNN employees that were revealed during the discovery process indicated that editors were concerned about the segment but ran it anyway. Other internal communications revealed that CNN employees used profanity and derogatory language when discussing Young privately.

Editor’s note: The title of this article has been updated to clarify that Warner Bros. Discovery will be required to hand over relevant financial information if subpoenaed by the claimant or otherwise demonstrate that it did not exist.

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