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A woman in Texas has been awarded $1.2 billion (£1 million) in a revenge porn lawsuit she filed against an ex-boyfriend who shared explicit images of her online.
Filed in Harris County Civil Court in April 2022, the woman's lawsuit led to a court awarding her the payout after the jury reached a verdict in just 30 minutes.
The woman, referred to as 'Jane Doe' for purposes of anonymity, had accused ex-boyfriend Marques Jackson of 'revenge porn conduct' and multiple years of harassment.
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According to court documents, the couple started dating in 2016, but ultimately the relationship ended with a 'long and drawn out break up' that began in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic and finally ended around October 2021.
However, Jackson was accused of keeping 'intimate visual material' from the relationship and faced allegations that he logged into the home surveillance system at the house of Jane Doe's mother.
Further claims alleged that he stole money from her bank account and attempted to interfere with her getting a loan.
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After they broke up, she accused her ex of watching her on cameras as well as posting intimate pictures of her on various sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, in addition to sending images to her family and work colleagues.
He also allegedly logged onto her Zoom account and posted pictures of her during work meetings.
She said: "This type of experience is devastating. It's extremely painful. It's hurtful.
"It's embarrassing and you fear that either something will trigger and it will start again or that the previous effort inspired someone new and then they might start."
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Jane Doe said she was checking online for photos 'every day' in an attempt to 'prevent' and 'constrain' the spread of the images.
Following her attempts to get him to stop, Jackson then sent her an email which read: "I want you to tell. Show everyone I know that this is what I am now.
"I will anyway. Police too. Won't change the fact that you will spend the rest of your life trying and failing to wipe yourself off the internet. Everyone you ever meet will hear the story and go looking... Happy Hunting."
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Jane Doe's legal representative, Bradford J. Gilde, said Jackson's 'purpose is to ruin her' and, along with co-counsel Jacob Schiffer, agreed that it's not likely she'll ever receive the full $1.2 billion figure she is now owed.
Schiffer added: "It was about sending a message to the world. Do not mess with Texas and do not mess with Texas women."
"I feel like I've been holding my breath for three years maybe, and I felt like that at least there were a group of people who saw me and let me breathe a little bit more," Jane Doe told KHOU 11.
If you are a US resident who has been affected by any of the issues in this article and need help and advice, you can call the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative’s crisis hotline on 844-878-CCRI (2274).
Featured Image Credit: ABC13/PexelsTopics: US News, Crime, News, Sex and Relationships