Notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ assets will be sold to pay a $1.5 billion debt to families of the Sandy Hook massacre victims
A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones “personal assets but dismissed his company's separate bankruptcy case, leaving the future of his media platform Infowars uncertain as he owes $1.5 billion over his false claims that… Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting It was a trick.
Judge Christopher Lopez agreed to convert Jones' proposed personal bankruptcy reorganization into liquidation, but rejected the attempt to reorganize his company, Free Speech Systems, based in Austin, Texas. Several Sandy Hook families have requested the company be liquidated as well.
If Free Speech Systems' bankruptcy reorganization is converted into liquidation, Jones could lose ownership of the company, its social media accounts, the Infowars studio in Austin, and all copyrights as the company's properties were sold. Jones smiled when the judge dismissed the company's case.
It was not immediately clear what would happen to Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars that Jones built into a multimillion-dollar money-making business over the past 25 years.
One scenario would be to allow the company and Infowars to continue operating while efforts to collect on the $1.5 billion debt are underway in state courts in Texas and Connecticut, where families have won lawsuits against Jones, according to attorneys involved in the case.
Another scenario is for lawyers for the Sandy Hook families to return to bankruptcy court and ask Lopez to liquidate the company as part of Jones' personal case, because Jones owns the company, the lawyers said.
Lopez said his sole focus in deciding whether to dismiss Free Speech Systems' case or order liquidation is what would be best for the company and its creditors, including the Sandy Hook families. Lopez also said the Free Speech Systems case appears to be one of the longest of its kind in the country, and that it is nearing the deadline for resolution.
“I was never asked today to decide whether or not to close the show. This would never have happened today one way or another,” Lopez said. “This case is one of the most difficult cases I have ever faced. When you look at it, I think creditors are better served pursuing their rights in state court.
Many of Jones' personal assets will be sold, but his primary home in the Austin area and some of his other properties are exempt from bankruptcy liquidation. He has already moved to sell his Texas ranch worth about $2.8 million, a gun collection and other assets to pay off debts.
In the run-up to Friday's hearing, Jones was telling his online viewers and radio listeners that free speech systems were about to shut down for bankruptcy. He urged them to download videos from his online archive to preserve them and pointed them to a new website for his father's company if they wanted to continue purchasing the supplements he sold on his show.
“This will likely be the end of Infowars here very soon. If not today, then in the next few weeks or months,” Jones told reporters before Friday's hearing. “But it's just the beginning of my fight against tyranny.”
Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, according to his most recent financial filings with the court. Free Speech Systems, which employs 44 people, has about $6 million in cash on hand and about $1.2 million in inventory, according to J. Patrick Magill, the chief restructuring officer appointed by the court to run the company during bankruptcy.
Jones and free speech regulations Filed for bankruptcy protection In 2022, when relatives of several victims of the 2012 school shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, won court rulings. More than $1.4 billion in Connecticut And $49 million in Texas.
Chris Mattei, the families' attorney in the Connecticut case, said Free Speech Systems' liquidation “will enable the Connecticut families to enforce their $1.4 billion judgments now and in the future, while also depriving Jones of the ability to inflict mass harm as he did.” Been doing it for about 25 years.
Relatives said they were psychologically traumatized by Jones' comments and the actions of his followers. They testified about existence To harass and threaten By Jones believers, some of whom confronted the grieving families in person, saying the shooting never happened and their children never existed. One of the fathers said that someone threatened to dig up the grave of his deceased son.
Jones and Free Speech Systems initially filed for bankruptcy reorganization protection that would have allowed him to run Infowars while paying families with proceeds from his show. But the two sides were unable to agree on a final plan, and Jones Recently applied for permission To convert his personal bankruptcy from reorganization to liquidation.
The families in the Connecticut lawsuit, including relatives of eight deceased children and adults, also asked that Free Speech Systems' bankruptcy case be converted into liquidation. But the parents in the Texas lawsuit — whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, died — want the company's case dismissed.
Lawyers for the company filed documents indicating their support for liquidation, but lawyers in Jones' personal bankruptcy case wanted the judge to dismiss the company's case.
Kyle Kempler, an attorney for the families seeking liquidation, had told the judge that dismissing the case could result in a “race to court.” He added that it is possible for one family to get everything while another family gets nothing.
Although Jones has since acknowledged that the Sandy Hook shooting occurred, he has continued to say in recent shows that Democrats and the “deep state” are conspiring to shut down his companies and deprive him of his rights to free speech. He also said that the Sandy Hook families are being used as pawns in the conspiracy. Lawyers for the families say this is nonsense.
The families have a lawsuit pending in Texas Jones is accused of illegally transferring and hiding millions of dollars. Jones denied the accusations.
