HOUSTON– Bombastic conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to liquidate his personal assets because he owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax.
But the immediate future of his Infowars media platform and the money behind the company that enriched Jones and connected him to far-right figures, celebrities and politicians remain uncertain.
The federal bankruptcy judge who ordered the liquidation of the assets on Friday also dismissed a separate bankruptcy case involving Infowar’s parent company Free Speech Systems.
Before the hearing, a combative Jones predicted that the end of Infowars could be “very soon,” and the website breathlessly warned that that day could be its final broadcast. But he smiled as he left hours later, visiting an Infowars show to say: “The bizarre political attempts to hijack the operation have failed.”
The battle for Jones’ assets reached this point after he and Free Speech Systems filed bankruptcy protection in 2022. That came as relatives of many victims of the Sandy Hook shooting won defamation judgments worth more than $1.4 billion in Connecticut and $49 million in Texas.
Here are some things to know about the Jones and Sandy Hook families’ attempts to force him to pay:
Jones, a barrel-chested Texan with a gravelly voice, has done just that conspiracy theories spread which range from the September 11 terrorist attacks to an alleged UN effort regarding the depopulation of the world.
Jones had just graduated from high school in Austin when he started broadcasting on a public television station in the 1990s. After being fired from a local radio station, he began broadcasting from home through his Infowars website.
Jones still hosts a daily four-hour talk show on the site. Interview guests this week included former Fox News star Tucker Carlson and British actor Russell Brand.
From just two employees in 2004, Jones grew his company into a media empire that had 60 employees in 2010. Court records show his company has four studios in Austin and a warehouse for products he sells online, such as nutritional supplements with names like Infowars Life Brain Force Plus and Life Super Male Vitality. Much of his income came from those sales.
But both Jones and lawyers for the Sandy Hook families said they expect Infowars to cease operations at some point because of the enormous debt it now owes them.
The shooting had barely happened when Jones started spreading its falsity was a hoax. The families of the victims who sued Jones said they were tormented, threatened and abused for years by people who believed the lies told on his show. One father said conspiracy theorists urinated on his 7-year-old son’s grave and threatened to dig up the coffin.
The families fought back with lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas.
Testifying in the Texas case, Jones acknowledged in 2022 that the shooting was “100 percent real” and that it was “absolutely irresponsible” to call it a hoax.
Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, including his home, according to court filings in his bankruptcy case, and Friday’s ruling means much of that will be sold. But his $2.6 million main home in the Austin area and some other assets are protected from bankruptcy liquidation. He has already moved to sell his Texas ranch, which is worth about $2.8 million, along with a gun collection and other assets.
The families have an ongoing lawsuit in Texas Accuse Jones of illegally diverting and concealing millions of dollars. He has denied the allegations.
It is not immediately clear what will happen to Free Speech Systems and Infowars. Many Sandy Hook families had asked for the company to be liquidated as well.
About the only certainty is more legal battles. Lawyers involved in the case pointed to at least two possible scenarios.
One would be if Infowars and Free Speech Systems were allowed to continue operating while efforts are underway to collect the $1.5 billion debt in state courts in Texas and Connecticut. Or Sandy Hook families could go back to bankruptcy court and ask the judge to liquidate the company as part of Jones’ personal case because he owns the company.
A trustee appointed Friday in Jones’ bankruptcy case now has control over his assets, including Infowars, attorneys for the families said.
One of them, Chris Mattei, on Friday called Infowars “soon to be defunct.”
“Today is a good day,” Mattei said in a text message. “Alex Jones has lost ownership of Infowars, the corrupt company he used for years to attack the families of Connecticut and so many others.”
Jones seemed happy to still be active for now.
“Of the two bad outcomes, this one is much better,” Jones said. “I haven’t given up. I’m fighting.”
___
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Vertuno from Austin, Texas.