A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones′ personal assets and was still deciding on his company’s separate bankruptcy case. The decision could determine the future of his Infowars media platform, as Jones owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
Many of Jones’ personal assets will be sold off, but he is expected to keep his primary home in the Austin area and some other belongings that are exempt from bankruptcy liquidation. He already has moved to sell his Texas ranch worth about $2.8 million, a gun collection and other assets to help pay debts.He has been telling his web viewers and radio listeners that Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems, is on the verge of being shut down because of the bankruptcy.
Jones and Austin, Texas-based Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022, when relatives of many victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, won lawsuit judgments of more than $1.4 billion in Connecticut and $49 million in Texas.“Doing so will enable the Connecticut families to enforce their $1.
The families in the Connecticut lawsuit, including relatives of eight dead children and adults, have asked that Free Speech Systems' separate bankruptcy case also be converted to a liquidation. But the parents in the Texas suit — whose child, 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, died — want the company's case dismissed.
Although he has since acknowledged that the Sandy Hook shooting happened, Jones has been saying on his recent shows that Democrats and the “deep state” are conspiring to shut down his companies and take away his free speech rights because of his views. He also has said the Sandy Hook families are being used as pawns in the conspiracy. The families’ lawyers say that is nonsense.