Former Ben-Gal walks away with $338K

COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- A federal jury has found that a gossip website and its operator defamed a former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader and has awarded her $338,000 in damages.
Jurors in federal court in Covington, Ky., on Thursday found the 2009 posts on the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based website thedirty.com about Sarah Jones were substantially false. They also found website operator Nik Richie acted with malice or reckless disregard in posting anonymous submissions.

One of the posts alleged Jones had sex with every Bengals player, and the other said she probably had two sexually transmitted diseases. Richie denied any malice.
Jones filed the lawsuit more than three years ago. A January trial resulted in a hung jury.
The posts weren't related to Jones' 2012 guilty plea to charges she had sex with an underage former student.