Zachary Young, a U.S. Navy veteran whose company helped to rescue at-risk Afghan civilians during the rapid Taliban takeover in 2021, is proceeding with his $500 million defamation lawsuit against the Associated Press.

Young’s firm, Nemex Enterprises, assisted with evacuating at least 23 people from Afghanistan during the chaotic withdrawal. His services often required fees to provide necessary transport and flights out of the country, though Young has testified that these costs were covered by corporate and non-governmental organization sponsors, such as Bloomberg and Audible, and not by individual Afghans.

The navy veteran previously sued CNN over a 2021 segment from “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” which used the term “black market” to describe his services. Young argued that the network defamed him by suggesting he engaged in illegal profiteering.

Young ultimately won the case against CNN and was awarded $5 million in damages.

When covering the trial back in January,  Associated Press media reporter David Bauder wrote that “Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan.” The veteran’s legal team has argued that the AP’s coverage “went even further than CNN’s falsehoods,” for which he is seeking $500 million in compensation.

On Monday, attorneys for Young responded to the AP’s motion to dismiss the suit. The AP insisted the claims were “without merit” and seeks to limit the outlet’s free speech rights, though the navy veteran’s legal team has argued this response fails to address “core issues” with the case.

“It does not dispute that the term ‘human smuggling’ implies criminal conduct, nor does it offer any valid explanation for its use of that term, even though a court previously ruled that Mr. Young committed no crime. AP’s own Stylebook defines ‘smuggling’ as illegal,” Young’s attorney, Daniel Lustig, wrote in a legal filing.

Zachary Young during his time in the Navy in the early 2000’s

“Dozens of AP articles reflect that usage. Just days before this filing, AP published a story about a man sentenced to 25 years in prison for ‘smuggling people,’ reinforcing that understanding,” Lustig continued.

“Even after receiving notice, AP refused to retract or revise the statement, not even to use a more accurate term such as ‘evacuate’ or ‘rescue.’”

In what was the most “notable” part of the AP’s motion for Lustig, the outlet never denied that “smuggling” refers to a criminal act. “Instead, it argues that the statement, in context, was not defamatory. That is not a defense, it is a concession. Under Florida law, if a statement is reasonably capable of a defamatory meaning, it is a question for the jury, not one to be resolved on a motion to dismiss. AP’s attempt to invoke the anti-SLAPP statute to shield such a statement is both legally unsupported and fundamentally flawed,” the attorney wrote.

Young’s legal team has also filed a motion to amend the complaint to include punitive damages, Fox News reported. Attorneys for Young further argued that the 242-page filing suggested this case “exemplifies the very scenario in which punitive damages are warranted to punish and deter such consciously indifferent conduct by a media organization.”

Each side appeared on Tuesday for the first hearing in front of 14th Judicial Circuit Court Judge William S. Henry, who also presided over the CNN case. Judge Henry scheduled the next hearing for July 3, where he is expected to issue a ruling on both the AP’s motion to dismiss and Young’s amended complaint.