CNN settled a lawsuit brought by a US Navy veteran over a 2021 segment on evacuations in Afghanistan on Friday, hours after a jury found the network liable for defaming him.

The jury deliberated for more than eight hours starting before ruling in favor of Zachary Young in his defamation suit against CNN.

A US Navy veteran who helped Afghans escape after the Taliban takeover in 2021 has won at least $5m (£4.1m) after a jury said he was defamed by American broadcaster CNN. Zachary Young ran a private security firm,

After the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, Young was a private contractor helping Afghans escape. CNN segment labeled Young as an 'illegal profiteer.'

A Florida jury concluded the network smeared the man’s reputation, awarding $5 million for losses and suffering and weighing additional punitive damages.

Zachary Young alleged CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the "black market" during the Biden administration's military withdrawal from the country in 2021.

Zachary Young sued the network in 2021 after it ran a segment on contractors profiting off refugees trying to flee Afghanistan in the 2021 withdrawal, including his business.

A jury in Florida has found CNN liable for defaming a US Navy veteran in a 2021 segment on Afghanistan that included him.

CNN chief national security correspondent Alexander Marquardt testified earlier this week that he did not produce a “hit piece” on the Navy veteran. He and others with the net

Alex Marquardt was pressed on Monday about his efforts to dig up dirt on the Navy veteran suing CNN for defamation, undercutting CNN’s defense that the plaintiff was not a central focus of the report.