A former Miss West Virginia has won a $7.2 million verdict against nine Internet companies that tried to sell pornographic videos they falsely claimed featured her.
A jury in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg last week ordered each defendant to pay Allison Williams $800,000 for damaging the 2003 beauty queen’s reputation and invading her privacy.
Williams’ attorney is appealing U.S. District Judge Irene M. Kelley’s decision to dismiss 28 other defendants in the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cayman Islands, Canada and South Africa that allegedly took part in distributing the bogus videos.
The videos surfaced in the fall of 2004. The videos show a woman that they claim to be, but isn’t Williams, engaged in sex in the back of a television news truck.
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