HOUSTON — A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation of the personal assets of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, but dismissed his separate bankruptcy case, leaving the future of media platform Infowars uncertain because he owes $1.5 billion due to false claims about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. there is a hoax.
Judge Christopher Lopez approved converting Jones’ proposed personal bankruptcy reorganization to liquidation. But Lopez threw a small exit from the company, Austin, Texas-based Free Speech Systems, after an unsuccessful attempt by Jones to reach an agreement with the families of Sandy Hook on proposals to reorganize and keep the company operating while paying people a million dollars.
It’s not immediately clear what will happen in the coming weeks to Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, which Jones has made a multimillion-dollar moneymaker over the past 25 years by selling dietary supplements and other products. But both Jones and the lawyer for the families of Sandy Hook said they expect Infowars to stop operating at some point because of the huge debt.
A trustee was appointed in the personal bankruptcy case of Jones to oversee the liquidation now has control over assets, including Infowars, according to lawyers for the families of Sandy Hook.
Dismissing the Free Speech Systems case means the family can now move immediately to collect $1.5 billion in state courts in Texas and Connecticut where they won a lawsuit against Jones and the company. It is possible that Infowars will continue operating during the collection effort, which may include selling the company’s assets.
Jones, who smiled as the judge dismissed the small company, called on Infowars after the court hearing and predicted another battle in state court. “The strange political attempt to hijack the operation has failed,” he said, adding that he would find another way to broadcast the show if he lost Infowars.
Outside court, he lashed out at his family for not accepting the reorganization proposal and said they were being used by political groups in a conspiracy to silence them. He said he will try to maximize profits in Infowars to make money for creditors and then down the business in a way that takes care of 44 employees.
“It’s about getting me off the air,” Jones said. “Understand that what you see in the corporate media about me, or what I say about Sandy Hook or all of this, has nothing to do with reality.”
Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the families of Sandy Hook, called Infowars “soon-to-be dead” as the client moved to collect the debt in state court. He said the family will also look to Jones’ future earnings.
“Today was a good day,” Mattei said in a text message after the hearing. “Alex Jones has lost ownership of Infowars, a corrupt business that has been used for years to prey on Connecticut families and others. … Alex Jones is not a martyr or a victim. He is the worst defamer in American history.
Lopez is being asked to convert Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy reorganization into liquidation or dismiss the case. He said the only focus is on what is best for the company and its creditors. He also said the Free Speech Systems’ case seems to be one of the longest of its kind in the country, and is approaching the deadline to resolve the issue.
“I was never asked today to make a decision to kill the show or not. It’s not going to happen now,” Lopez said. “This case is one of the most difficult cases I have ever been involved in. If you look at it, I think creditors are better off pursuing their rights in state courts.
Many of Jones’ personal assets will be sold, but his main Austin-area home and other belongings are exempt from bankruptcy liquidation. He has moved to sell his Texas ranch worth about $2.8 million, his gun collection and other assets to pay off his debts.
In the lead-up to the hearing, Jones has told web viewers and radio listeners that the Free Speech System is on the verge of dying because of bankruptcy. He encouraged them to download the video from an online archive to preserve it and pointed them to his father’s company’s new website if they wanted to continue buying the nutritional supplements sold at the event.
Jones has personal assets of about $9 million, according to his most recent financial filings with the court. Free Speech Systems has about $6 million in cash on hand and about $1.2 million worth of inventory, according to J. Patrick Magill, the chief restructuring officer appointed by the court to run the company during bankruptcy.
During the hearing, the lawyer for the family of Sandy hook repeated claims that Jones illegally diverted millions of dollars both before and during bankruptcy, and asked him to send the audience to his father’s website. His family has a lawsuit pending in Texas accusing Jones of illegally diverting the money, which he denies, and says he will continue his efforts to claw it back.
Jones and Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022, while relatives of many of the victims of the 2012 school shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, won a lawsuit for more than $1.4 billion in Connecticut and $49 million in Texas. .
The family said they were traumatized by Jones’ comments and the actions of his followers. They have testified about being harassed and threatened by Jones’ confidants, some of whom confronted grieving families by saying the shooting never happened and that their children never existed. A parent said someone threatened to dig up the grave of her dead child.
Jones appealed the judgment in state court.
The family in the Connecticut lawsuit, including relatives of eight dead children and adults, have asked that Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy case is also converted to a liquidation. But the parents in the Texas suit – whose son, 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, died – wanted a small company dismissed, saying it would speed up the collection of Jones’ debt to them.
Attorneys for the company filed documents showing they support liquidation, but attorneys for Jones’ personal bankruptcy case want the judge to dismiss the company’s case.
___
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.