Alex Jones Files for Bankruptcy - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Infowars fabulist Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 idiosyncratic bankruptcy Friday successful the Southern District of Texas successful Houston, citing nearly $1.5 cardinal successful damages juries awarded this twelvemonth to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, who won a bid of defamation cases against Mr. Jones aft helium lied for years astir the schoolhouse shooting connected his vigor and online show.

The filing comes atop the bankruptcy filing by Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ genitor company, successful precocious July. The caller filing could further hold outgo of the damages to the families, who would request to question outgo done the bankruptcy courts alongside different creditors. But it could besides unit a greater grade of scrutiny connected the finances of Mr. Jones’s empire.

For much than 4 years, Mr. Jones has stonewalled the courts connected providing concern records, fiscal accusation and different records successful the Sandy Hook cases. In a abstracted lawsuit, the victims’ families person accused Mr. Jones of improperly siphoning assets from his business and channeling them to himself and his family. He volition present ostensibly beryllium required to uncover much astir those assets.

“The bankruptcy strategy does not support anyone who engages successful intentional and egregious attacks connected others, arsenic Mr. Jones did,” said Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the families successful the damages lawsuit successful Connecticut. “The American judicial strategy volition clasp Alex Jones accountable, and we volition ne'er halt moving to enforce the jury’s verdict.” In that case, successful October, Mr. Jones was ordered to wage $1.4 billion. Two different cases were litigated successful Texas.

Hours aft the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting of 20 archetypal graders and six educators astatine Sandy Hook Elementary successful Newtown, Conn., Mr. Jones began spreading lies that the massacre was planned by the authorities arsenic a pretext for confiscating Americans’ firearms, and that the families were complicit successful the plot. He continued lying astir the shootings for years, exposing the families to online abuse, confrontation and decease threats by radical who believed the mendacious claims.

Mr. Jones earns up to $70 cardinal a twelvemonth selling products tailored to his audience’s distrust of authorities and established science, including fare supplements and quack cures, survivalist cogwheel and weapon paraphernalia. In mid-2018, the families of 10 Sandy Hook victims filed 4 abstracted defamation lawsuits, aboriginal combined into three, against Mr. Jones successful Texas and Connecticut.

The litigation has been defined by Mr. Jones’s stonewalling, arsenic helium refused to taxable applicable records and testimony. His intransigence prompted judges successful Texas and Connecticut to regularisation Mr. Jones liable by default in each the Sandy Hook lawsuits precocious past year. The families’ sweeping triumph acceptable the signifier for 3 trials for juries to determine however overmuch helium indispensable wage the families successful damages.

In the archetypal proceedings this summertime successful Austin, wherever Infowars is based, a assemblage awarded astir $50 cardinal successful damages to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of Jesse Lewis, a Sandy Hook victim. Shortly earlier that verdict Mr. Jones enactment Free Speech Systems into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In October, the families of 8 Sandy Hook victims won much than $1.4 cardinal successful damages from Mr. Jones. A 3rd and last proceedings successful the suit brought by Lenny Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose lad Noah Pozner was the youngest Sandy Hook victim, is scheduled to statesman March 27.

Cordt Akers, a lawyer for the families who is challenging the bankruptcy filing successful Texas, called Mr. Jones’s Chapter 11 filing “the latest successful a agelong enactment of tricks by Alex Jones to support the Sandy Hook families from the justness to which they are entitled.”

“It won’t work,” helium added.

In the bare-bones filing, Mr. Jones estimated that helium owed wealth to 50 to 99 creditors, a database topped by the names of the Sandy Hook relatives. His biggest creditor is Robert Parker, whose girl Emilie died astatine Sandy Hook. Mr. Jones for years played a videotape connected Infowars of Mr. Parker’s tearful quality league the nighttime aft his daughter’s murder, calling the grieving begetter an “actor” and the quality league “disgusting.” Conspiracy theorists who believed Mr. Jones’s lies tormented, threatened and personally confronted Mr. Parker and his family.

In October, the assemblage successful Connecticut ordered Mr. Jones to wage Mr. Parker $120 million, arsenic portion of the $1.4 cardinal judgment.

Mr. Jones estimates his assets to beryllium worthy $1 cardinal to $10 cardinal successful the filing. That fig volition astir surely beryllium challenged by the families, who said successful their filing that Mr. Jones had siphoned astir $62 cardinal from his concern into fiscal vehicles benefiting himself and his household opening successful 2018, erstwhile they archetypal filed suit. In tribunal successful Texas this summer, a forensic economist, Bernard F. Pettingill Jr., estimated that Mr. Jones and his concern were worthy $130 cardinal to $270 million.

At the halfway of his bankruptcy assertion is Mr. Jones’s assertion that Free Speech Systems, which helium owns, owed $54 cardinal to PQPR Holdings, a institution owned and operated straight and indirectly by Mr. Jones and his parents. The indebtedness is fictional, the families’ lawyers said successful Thursday’s filing, and “a centerpiece of Jones’s program to debar compensating the Sandy Hook families.”

Mr. Jones has go progressively emblematic of however misinformation and mendacious narratives person gained traction successful American society. He has played a relation successful spreading immoderate of caller history’s astir pernicious conspiracy theories, such arsenic Pizzagate — successful which an Infowars video helped animate a gunman to onslaught a pizzeria successful Washington, D.C. — arsenic good arsenic coronavirus myths and “Stop the Steal” falsehoods astir predetermination fraud earlier the Capitol battle connected Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Jones is nether scrutiny by the House Jan. 6 committee and the Justice Department for his relation successful readying events astir the onslaught connected the Capitol, which helium broadcast live.

Emily Steel contributed reporting from New York.