He certainly did not get $250mm from WaPo.  I agree with you anon @IAMthePie, that this is a frequent confusion. For those not familiar with lawsuits, here is the extract from my post above: "For those not familiar with libel lawsuits, his lawsuit against WP was $250 millions but it is likely that they settled on on another amount. In other words, a $250 millions lawsuit is NOT to confuse with winning $250 millions from a lawsuit. He might have got part of those millions, all those millions, or more millions. The total amount might be confidential."