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 $US1.5 billion ($2.27 billion) for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
Judge Christopher Lopez approved converting Jones’ proposed personal bankruptcy reorganisation to a liquidation. He was still set to rule on whether Jones’ company, Austin, Texas-based Free Speech Systems, also should be liquidated.
It wasn’t immediately clear what will happen to Free Speech Systems, which is Infowars’ parent company.
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 $US2.8 million ($4.23 million), a gun collection and other assets to help pay debts.
Jones did not have any real reaction after the judge issued the order about his personal assets.
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. A headline on Infowars’ website Friday said: “Watch Live! Will This Be The Final Day Of Infowars Transmissions?”
“This is probably the end of Infowars here very, very soon. If not today, in the next few weeks or months,” Jones told reporters before the hearing began. “But it’s just the beginning of my fight against tyranny.”
Jones has been urging his followers to download videos from his online archive to preserve them and pointing them to a new website of his father’s company if they want to continue buying the dietary supplements he sells on his show.
Jones has about $US9 million ($13.6 million) in personal assets, while his company has about $US4 million ($6.04 million) in cash on hand, according to the most recent financial filings in court.
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 $US1.4 billion ($2.12 billion) in Connecticut and $US49 million ($74.04 million) in Texas.
Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families have been seeking liquidation.
“Doing so will enable the Connecticut families to enforce their $US1.4 billion in judgments now and into the future while also depriving Jones of the ability to inflict mass harm as he has done for some 25 years,” Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the families in the Connecticut case, said.
The relatives said they were traumatised by Jones’ comments and his followers’ actions. They testified about being harassed and threatened by Jones’ believers, some of whom confronted the grieving families in person saying the shooting never happened and their children never existed. One parent said someone threatened to dig up his dead son’s grave.
Jones and Free Speech Systems initially filed for bankruptcy reorganisation protection that would have allowed him to run Infowars while paying the families with revenues from his show. But the two sides couldn’t agree on a final plan, and Jones recently filed for permission to switch his personal bankruptcy from a reorganisation to a liquidation.
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.
Lawyers for the company filed documents indicating it supported liquidation, but attorneys for Jones’ personal bankruptcy case filed a motion on Wednesday saying he does not support that plan and wants the judge to dismiss the company’s case.
If Free Speech Systems’ case is dismissed, the company could return to the same position it was in after the $US1.5 billion was awarded in the lawsuits. Efforts to collect the damages would go back to the state courts in Texas and Connecticut. That could give Infowars an extended lifeline as collection efforts played out.
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.
According to the most recent financial statements filed in the bankruptcy court, Jones personally has about $US9 million ($13.6 million) in assets, including his $US2.6 million ($3.93 million) Austin-area home and other real estate. He listed his living expenses at about $US69,000 ($104,000) for April alone, including about $US16,500 ($25,000) for expenses on his home.
Free Speech Systems, which employs 44 people, made nearly $US3.2 million ($4.83 million) in April, including from selling the dietary supplements, clothing and other items that Jones promotes on his show, while listing $US1.9 million ($2.87 million) in expenses.
The families have a pending lawsuit in Texas accusing Jones of illegally diverting and hiding millions of dollars. Jones has denied the allegations.
