The conservative television network Newsmax settled a defamation lawsuit brought against it by voting machine company Smartmatic hours before the trial involving claims about the 2020 election was set to begin.

In a brief statement on its website, Newsmax said it is “pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement.”

Smartmatic brought the lawsuit in 2021 and accused Newsmax of attempting to peel off voters from Fox News by lobbing unfounded allegations that the voting machine company switched votes to help secure President Biden’s election. 

For its part, the network insisted it was merely covering the allegations made by President Trump and his supporters about the 2020 election.

However, Smartmatic spokesman Tom Becker said in a statement before the settlement that the company was looking forward to “presenting evidence of its wrongdoing, questioning top Newsmax executives about its coverage, and ask[ing] the jury to hold them liable using whatever remedies are allowed by law.”

While the terms of the settlement agreement are not known, it was expected that a win for Smartmatic could have been financially ruinous for Newsmax. 

However, the voting machine company did suffer a setback when the judge in the case ruled it could not seek punitive damages if the trial went in its favor. The judge also dismissed Smartmatic’s allegation Newsmax tried to harm the company and acted with “express malice” in its coverage. 

The conservative outlet is the latest company to settle a lawsuit related to claims about the 2020 election. In April, the conservative network One America News settled with Smartmatic over its allegations around the 2020 election. The details of that settlement were not publicly shared.

And in 2023, Fox News settled a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over comments made on the network about the 2020 election for an eye-popping $787.5 million. The network is also expected to face a trial with Smartmatic in 2025.