Charisa Bossinakis
A woman has been awarded $1.2 billion (£946.6m) in a traumatic and lengthy revenge porn case.
KHOU 11 reported that the woman identified as Jane Doe had endured years of torment at the hands of an ex-boyfriend who published sexual images without her consent.
The unnamed woman dated Jamal Jackson Marquees for four years before a long drawn out break up that began before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The relationship officially ended in October 2021.
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After the split, Jamal kept ‘intimate material’ from their relationship and began spying on his ex through her at-home security camera, to which he was able to compile explicit images and videos of the women.
Soon, he began distributing the graphic content via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even Porn Hub.
He then sent emails of the unidentified woman to her inner circle before he hacked into her Zoom and published the material during meetings with coworkers.
"It's been about two years or three years. It's been painful and scary," said the woman, as per KHOU 11.
Attorney Bradford J. Gilde said Jamal intended to ‘ruin’ the woman.
Mr Gilde added that he and his team were extremely pleased with the verdict.
"It was about sending a message to the world," said attorney Jacob Schiffer. "Do not mess with Texas and do not mess with Texas women."
She added: "I feel like I have been holding my breath for three years."
Revenge porn is a felony in the state of Texas, as the law states a defendant is liable to an individual depicted in intimate visual materials for any damages arising from the distribution of that material if it fulfils the criteria for revenge porn under Penal Code 21.16.
According to The Washington Post, as the number of Americans relying on tech increased drastically during the pandemic, it led to a surge in revenge porn cases.
Annie Seifullah, co-chair of the NYC Cyber Abuse Task Force, said that many victims were being re-attacked by abusers they hadn’t heard from in a long time.
“The victim felt like they were out from under it, and the offender showed back up again. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was timed with covid,” she told the outlet.
"All the work in front of us was helping people who were in immediate crisis, and that looked like new victims of nonconsensual pornography and other types of tech abuse."