Hunter Biden wins $1.7m defamation suit against Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne

A federal judge in Los Angeles awarded Hunter Biden $1.7 million in punitive damages on Friday in a defamation lawsuit against Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com. Byrne had publicly claimed that Biden sought an $800 million bribe from Iran in 2021 in exchange for his father's administration releasing $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets and softening U.S. negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson, a Ronald Reagan appointee, ruled that Byrne made the statements with "actual malice" and "intentional misrepresentation with conscious disregard towards plaintiff's rights." The judge found that Byrne provided no credible evidence for his claims, citing an alleged Iranian government official as his source but noting that Byrne failed to produce documentary evidence or demonstrate any direct contact between that official and Biden. Wilson concluded that "much of the narrative describing the covert meeting with an Iranian government official was fabricated."

Byrne, a Trump ally and prominent 2020 election denier who funded efforts to overturn the election results, had repeatedly reposted the false claims across social media platforms and encouraged his followers to share them further. During litigation, he employed persistent delaying tactics, including firing his legal team on the first day of trial in July 2025 and failing to appear in person, forcing the judge to reschedule proceedings for October 2025 before ultimately ruling by default.

In his ruling, Wilson characterized Byrne's conduct as a "coordinated strategy" rather than excusable neglect, writing that "defendant has sustained a campaign of dilatory tactics that have indefinitely extended this years-long litigation, while denying plaintiff his day in court." The judge awarded Biden $1 in nominal damages plus the $1.7 million in punitive damages, and ordered Byrne to pay $34,969.20 in court sanctions within 14 days, with the amount increasing by $1,000 daily if unpaid.

Biden's attorney, Bryan Sullivan, stated that Byrne had effectively accused his client of "treason" and called the judgment "the floor, not the ceiling" of what Byrne owes, warning that any repetition of the false claims would result in further litigation. The ruling comes as Biden has been building a social media following and announced plans to publish essays on Substack, and follows his father's pardon of him for federal gun and tax convictions in the final days of his presidency.