Geoffrey Rush Awarded $2 Million in Sydney Defamation Case

Actor Geoffrey Rush was awarded an Australian record of 2.9 million Australian dollars by a Sydney judge in a defamation case.

Actor Geoffrey Rush poses at the photo call for the film The Best Offer at the 63rd edition of the Berlinale, International Film Festival in Berlin on Feb. 12, 2013. Michael Sohn/File photo via AP

SYDNEY—Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush was awarded an Australian record of 2.9 million Australian dollars ($2 million) damages by a Sydney judge on May 23 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.