By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Families of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre claimed victory in Alex Jones’ bankruptcy case on Friday, accepting the conspiracy theorist’s proposal to sell his assets, including InfoWars, to partially pay them legal judgments for are lies about the events of 2012 American school shooting.
Jones, who filed for bankruptcy protection in the US 17 months ago, has given up efforts to reach a bankruptcy deal that would reduce the $1.5 billion he owes to the relatives of 20 students and six staff members killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. in Newtown, Connecticut.
Instead, Jones decided this week to proceed with a court-supervised liquidation of his assets.
Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said Friday that Jones’ pivot toward a Chapter 7 liquidation was a moment of “meaningful accountability” for his repeated lies, pushing the broadcaster to the “edge of justice.”
“Alex Jones hurt so many people,” Mattei said. “Connecticut families have fought for years to hold him accountable, no matter the cost and at great personal risk.”
Courts in Texas and Connecticut have ordered Jones to pay $1.5 billion to the Sandy Hook families after Jones alleged for years that the school killings were staged with actors as part of a government plot to seize U.S. weapons to take. Jones has since acknowledged that the shootings occurred.
Bankruptcies can be used to wipe out debts and legal judgments, but the judge overseeing Jones’ case ruled in October that most defamation judgments cannot be legally issued because they result from “intentional and malicious damage” caused by Jones. Jones’ decision to pursue a Chapter 7 liquidation does not change that ruling.
Jones had asked the Sandy Hook families to vote for a bankruptcy settlement that would have paid them $55 million, but they unanimously rejected the deal and came up with their own proposal to sell his assets.
The families said in a court filing Friday that they will withdraw from their plan and allow Jones to convert his case to a simple liquidation.
Jones has said the defamation judgments are far greater than the total value of his assets.
Although the liquidation will only yield a fraction of the money he owes the families, they objected to his proposal because it would have kept him in control of both InfoWars and his wealth for years, while also reducing the total amount he would pay to the families would be limited. the defamation claims.
The court-supervised liquidation allows the families to benefit from the immediate sale of assets, while keeping their claim on Jones’ assets alive in case he builds wealth in the future.
On his InfoWars website, Jones said Tuesday on “The Alex Jones Show” that he expects to lose everything except his house, which has gone into foreclosure, but said he would find a way to continue broadcasting and “work for free ‘ instead of ‘being free’. silenced” by the legal rulings.
Attorneys for Jones and the Sandy Hook families did not immediately respond to questions about how Jones would address lingering legal debts after his assets were sold in bankruptcy.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston, Texas will consider Jones’ request to convert his case to a Chapter 7 liquidation at a hearing on June 14.
