Ammon Bundy Stuck With $52 Million Defamation Debt, Judge Rules

Anti-government activist and former Idaho gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy can’t use his bankruptcy to eliminate a $52 million judgment stemming from a court finding that he defamed a local hospital system.

Bundy’s debts are the result of “willful and malicious injury,” which can’t be discharged through his Chapter 7 case, Judge William Thurman of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah said in a decision Tuesday.

“In this present situation, the Court’s hands are tied,” the judge wrote. “The law is clear, and to hold otherwise would violate fundamental constitutional principles and well-settled law.”

Bundy, who sought bankruptcy ...