Geoffrey Rush awarded $2 million in Sydney defamation case

SYDNEY (AP) — Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush has been awarded a total of 2.9 million Australian dollars ($2 million) damages in a defamation case against a newspaper publisher and journalist over reports he had been accused of inappropriate behavior toward an actress.

The 67-year-old Australian had sued Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph’s publisher and journalist Jonathon Moran in the Federal Court over two stories and a poster published in late 2017.

Justice Michael Wigney on Thursday awarded Rush a further AU$1.98 million for past and future economic loss because of the defamation on top of damages awarded when he ruled in Rush’s favor in April.

The publisher, Nationwide News, and Moran are appealing his verdict.