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Andy Ngo's Case Against Antifa Takes Another Turn

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  August 28, 2023 2:30 PM

After a pair of Antifa associates escaped justice, investigative journalist Andy Ngo's high-profile civil case against his Antifa attackers concluded last Monday in favor of the famed reporter, whose undercover journalism exposing Antifa's terrorist activity on the riot-ridden streets of Portland has repeatedly left him hospitalized following brutal beatings by the far-left's militant forces.

At the post-trial hearing, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Chanpone Sinlapasai found that Ngo was, indeed, battered and assaulted by Madison "Denny" Lee Allen, Katherine "Corbyn" Belyea, and Joseph Christian Evans—all transgenders—awarding Ngo $300,000 in damages to be split-paid equally ($100,000 each) among the three defaulted trans-identifying Antifa defendants.

According to Ngo's civil complaint, Allen, Belyea, and Evans were involved in the June 29, 2019, attack, when Ngo was viciously beaten by a mob of Rose City Antifa members for covering an event organized by the Portland-based group. The attack, which garnered attention nationwide and is most commonly known as the viral "milkshake" incident, landed Ngo, having suffered severe injuries, in the hospital with a brain bleed. In addition to being punched by carbon-hardened tactical gloves and kicked in the head, Ngo was relentlessly doused in "concrete-infused milkshakes" and struck on the face with plywood hard-edged placards.

Amid the weeklong trial that preceded the Aug. 21 ruling, Ngo testified that the attack caused significant emotional distress and trauma that impacted his ability to work in the field as an on-the-ground reporter and videographer. Saddled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and short-term memory issues, Ngo revealed that he had to undergo physical and cognitive therapy.

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Ngo's complaint against Rose City Antifa | Source: Multnomah County Circuit Court

Ngo, the son of Vietnamese refugees, also disclosed in his testimony that Antifa radicals doxxed his phone number and home address, where his parents lived, and that his family's private information had been published by far-left actors. Since, Ngo was forced to flee the U.S. to start a new life abroad, rendering him unable to take care of his elderly parents due to the displacement.

Discussing monetary damages, lawyer Dorothy Yamamoto, a member of Ngo's legal team, submitted evidence to the court that included a $1,405.60 invoice for an ambulance service, a receipt from Apple for $1,827.90 in regards to Ngo's phone being broken in the attack, and copies of Ngo's payments to an at-home security program that cost him $560.00 for the surveillance cameras, plus a $829.00 installation fee and a $57.99 monthly charge, to protect his family's house out of fear for their safety.


Ngo's complaint against Rose City Antifa | Source: Multnomah County Circuit Court

The default six-figure judgment, which was handed because the defendants failed to show up for court, followed a settlement that Ngo won against another Antifa defendant, Benjamin Patrick Bolen, also named in the Ngo v. Rose City Antifa, et al. lawsuit. Rose City Antifa as an organization was dismissed from the civil suit on grounds that it's "not a discreet entity under common law, and thus, it's an unassociated identity that cannot be sued. However, the individual co-defendants were still deemed suable.

During the proceeding, the defense attorney representing Evans, who's legally a "they/them" and whose legal name was changed to Sammica Overkill Schott-Deputy as an anti-police message meaning "shot deputy," filed a motion requesting that the default judgement be overturned, claiming that the defendant defaulted because his client didn't know he was sued and was unable to respond to the order to appear in court since he was living in a homeless encampment across the street from the courthouse. (The court rejected the request, stating that Evans can file an appeal later.)  At the time Evans was served, the "non-binary" felon with a violent and extensive criminal record spanning across several counties and states was serving prison sentences in both New York and Oregon, according to a Post Millennial report written by Seattle correspondent Katie Daviscourt.

Ngo called the legal victory "a small vindication for the disappointing jury verdict earlier this month at trial," noting that collecting on the judgments will pose "serious challenges," before thanking his counsel at lawyer Harmeet Dhillon's nonprofit Center for American Liberty for helping him "hold these attackers accountable for trying to violently silence my First Amendment rights."

Now, it's time "to collect!" declared Dhillon in response to Ngo's announcement on Twitter.

"While it will continue to be a steep uphill battle to collect today's awarded damages given the default defendants' history of evasion, I remain determined to hold Antifa and its members accountable for their violent attacks," Ngo vowed in his statement.

Although four of the co-defendants have now been ordered to pay up, two Antifa militants got off scot-free earlier this month.

On Aug. 8, a 12-person jury found Antifa-affiliated defendants John Colin Hacker, a notorious doxxer, and Elizabeth Renee Richter not liable for assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in Ngo's attacks. The seven-day trial was riddled with intimidation by individuals believed to be associated with Antifa, courtroom interruptions, and delays due to threats of violence. The identities of the jurors had to be sealed over serious concerns about being doxxed by external efforts to identify them. In closing arguments, the defense's activist attorney—self-identifying antif-fascist Michelle Burrows, who proclaimed in court, "I am Antifa"—told the jurors she would "remember each one of their faces" once the trial concluded. "Resistance in this country has never been peaceful," Burrows argued in defense of Antifa, admitting that Ngo's tormenters were, in fact, "terrorists."

The defendants triumphed in court despite significant evidence captured on camera and an admission of guilt by Hacker.

During a deep-dive discussion held on X-Spaces, formerly Twitter Spaces, Ngo explained why, regardless, taking Antifa to trial was worth it, though it was difficult for him to endure as he had to re-live through the trauma and face his harassers head-on.

In the aftermath of a separate May 28, 2021, attack, when an undercover Ngo was pursued by an Antifa-led mob until he narrowly escaped, seeking refuge inside The Nines hotel in downtown Portland, the journalist began publishing less of his own writing, because of "the triggers" like "flashback moments" of "legs in black surrounding me" and Antifa "screaming my name." 

"The physical pain was worse," Ngo said on the stand. "Everyday activities for months was physically painful and the triggers from this attack were way more severe. I kept thinking about that near-death experience, how these people pinned me down, beat me, and nobody helping me, with hotel staff not calling 911, it was isolating and triggered my experiences of depression."

Daviscourt, Ngo's colleague at The Post Millennial who provided day-by-day trial coverage, was threatened inside the Mulnomah County Courthouse as jury deliberations were underway. Afterwards, on the heels of the landmark case's conclusion, Daviscourt found her vehicle vandalized and private property stolen, presumably by lawless Antifa extremists as an act of vengeance.

Windows shattered, the reporter's ransacked car was not parked near the courthouse.