A federal bankruptcy judge on Friday granted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ request to turn his bankruptcy filing into a liquidation of his personal assets as the Infowars founder loses defamation lawsuits two years ago and comes close to losing his media company.
Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez of the Southern District of Texas ruled that an interim trustee will first be appointed to help guide the process from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7 liquidation, allowing the trustee to oversee and sell Jones’ assets.
Jones’ attorney, Vicki Driver, told Lopez that the money could go to a trustee to sell Jones’ $2.8 million Texas ranch.
Ahead of Friday’s hearing, families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting urged Lopez to appoint a permanent trustee to “protect assets and prevent further destruction of value.” Defamation judgments.
The families in the filing accused Jones of “erratic behavior in recent weeks” and noted comments he made on his show that he had no assets other than money he could make selling nutritional supplements. David Jones, a dentist known as “Dr. Jones,” told his listeners to continue buying products from a website he co-founded with his father.
The families accuse Jones of trying to divert assets from his media company, Free Speech Systems.
Jones’ “blatant and persistent efforts to funnel the assets of the FSS estate to an unincorporated entity owned by his father — while using the InfoWars brand name and infrastructure — were intentionally destructive of value,” the families said.
Families who sued Jones won cases in Connecticut and Texas and were awarded a combined $1.5 billion in damages, claiming he defamed them and caused emotional distress by repeatedly suggesting on his show that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. On December 14, 2012, a gunman killed 20 first-graders and 6 adults at a school in Newtown, Connecticut.
In a 2022 hearing in Texas, Jones generally blamed the “corporate media” for twisting and misrepresenting his words, but did not specify how.
Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that year, which plaintiffs’ attorneys have criticized as a ploy to avoid paying debts. A judge ruled last year that Jones, who has said in court documents that he has $9 million in personal assets, cannot use bankruptcy to wipe out legal judgments.
His attorneys wrote in a court filing last week that his debts have “no reasonable prospect of successful restructuring,” so they are asking a judge for permission to convert his bankruptcy petition to Chapter 7 liquidation.
Sandy Hook families in Connecticut say they support the judge approving both Jones’ personal assets because they want to see how he can meet his financial obligations to them, and Free Speech Systems, which is seeking bankruptcy protection.
On Friday, Lopez was considering a Connecticut families’ request to allow Free Speech Systems’ assets to be liquidated.
A lawyer for the families said last week that Jones meeting his financial obligations was part of “meaningful accountability.” His decades of incendiary rhetoric.
Jones suggested on his show this week that InfoWars is coming to an end, something his audience will know in a matter of days.
“I’m going to stay with the ship until it sinks completely,” he said, “and at the last moment, I’ll get on the next ship.”
