Media platform Infowars, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his assets will be sold piece by piece at auction this fall to help pay off more than $1 billion in debt owed to relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, according to an order to be approved. by a federal judge.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston said during a court hearing Tuesday that he would approve the auction starting in November. But he said he should change the previous order to make it clear that the trustee overseeing Jones’ personal bankruptcy case controls all assets of Infowars’ parent company Free Speech Systems, which is 100% owned by Jones.
Despite the company’s pending bankruptcy, Jones has vowed to continue the talk show in other ways, possibly including a new website and personal social media accounts. He also suggested that Infowars assets could be purchased by his supporters, so that he could continue to host shows as an employee under the Infowars brand in his hometown of Austin, Texas.
“It’s very cut and dry that the assets of Free Speech Systems, the website, the equipment, the shopping cart, all that, can be sold,” Jones said in a recent event. “And they know full well that there are a bunch of patriot buyers, and then the operation can be easy.
Jones and his company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 — the same year the Sandy Hook family won nearly $1.5 billion in a defamation and emotional distress lawsuit against Jones for repeatedly calling the 2012 school a hoax perpetrated by “actors crisis” to get more weapons. control legislation is passed. Twenty first graders and six educators were killed in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting.
During two civil trials in Texas and Connecticut, parents and children of many victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’ hoax conspiracy and the actions of his followers. They said they were harassed and threatened, by people who believed in Jones’, some of whom confronted their families grieving at them saying the shooting never happened and their children were never there. A parent said someone threatened to dig up the grave of his dead son.
Jones appealed the verdict of the civil jury, citing the right to free speech and the question of whether the family proved there was a connection between the comments, and those who were harassed and threatened relatives. He began to admit that the shooting happened.
In June, Lopez converted Jones’ personal bankruptcy reorganization case to liquidation, meaning most of his assets will be sold to pay creditors except for his primary home and other exempt property. That same day, Lopez also dismissed Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy case after Jones and his family were unable to reach an agreement on a final plan.
The sale order Lopez is seeking to approve will auction off Infowars’ intellectual property on Nov. 13, including its trademarks, copyrighted material, social media accounts and website. Jones’ personal social media sites, including his account on social platform X, which has 2.8 million followers, will not be included.
However, the trustee overseeing Jones’ bankruptcy case, Christopher Murray, said on Tuesday that he would seek court permission to also liquidate Jones’ personal social media accounts and other intellectual property – which Jones’ lawyers have opposed. The issue could develop into another court battle in the bankruptcy case. Murray is also expected to sell many of Jones’ personal assets.
The Sandy Hook family that won the Connecticut lawsuit wants Jones to lose his personal social media accounts. His attorney further contended that the family should get a cut of all of Jones’ future earnings to pay off his more than $1 billion in debt.
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook family in the Connecticut lawsuit, said the judge’s signing of the auction order would be a “significant step forward” in the family’s efforts to make Jones pay for the fraud.
“Alex Jones will not own or control the company he built,” Mattei said in a statement Tuesday. “It brings the family closer to their goal of holding them accountable for the harm they caused.”
The rest of Infowars’ assets, including computers, video cameras and other studio equipment, will be sold in a separate auction on December 10.
Jones has made millions of dollars over the years selling dietary supplements, clothing, survival gear, books and other items he promotes on his show, which airs on the internet and dozens of radio stations. It is not clear how much money will be raised by selling Infowars and Jones assets, and how much money the family of Sandy Hook.
Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, according to court filings. Free Speech Systems has about $6 million in cash on hand and about $1.2 million in inventory, according to previous court testimony.
Lawyers, financial experts and others working on Jones’ bankruptcy case — which has already cost him millions of dollars in fees and expenses — must be paid first.
The remaining legal dispute in the bankruptcy case is whether Free Speech Systems owes more than $50 million to another Jones company, PQPR Holdings Limited. Free Speech Systems buy dietary supplements from PQPR for sale on the Infowars website. PQPR said it wasn’t paid for many of the additions and filed a lien. Sandy Hook’s lawyers claim the debt is bogus.
If the debt is found to be true, that can reduce the number of families Sandy Hook ultimately get from liquidations.
