A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ‘ personal assets, but dismissed his company’s separate bankruptcy case, leaving the future of his media platform Infowars uncertain as he owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting there was a deception.
Judge Christopher Lopez approved converting Jones’s proposed personal bankruptcy reorganization into a liquidation, but rejected an attempt to reorganize his Austin, Texas-based company, Free Speech Systems. Many Sandy Hook families also asked for the company to be dissolved.
If Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy reorganization were to be converted into liquidation, Jones could lose ownership of the company, its social media accounts, the Infowars studio in Austin and all copyrights as the company’s assets would be sold. Jones smiled when the judge dismissed the company’s lawsuit.
It was not immediately clear what would happen to Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, which Jones built into a multimillion-dollar profit over the past 25 years.
One scenario could be that the company and Infowars are allowed to continue operating while efforts to collect the $1.5 billion in debt are pursued in state courts in Texas and Connecticut, where the families have won claims against Jones, according to lawyers. involved in this matter.
Another scenario is that lawyers for the Sandy Hook families return to bankruptcy court and ask Lopez to liquidate the company as part of Jones’ personal file because Jones owns the business, lawyers say.
Lopez said his only consideration in deciding whether to dismiss Free Speech Systems or order liquidation is what is best for the company and its creditors, including the Sandy Hook families. Lopez also said the Free Speech Systems case is one of the longest in the country and is approaching the deadline for resolution.
“Today I was never asked to make a decision whether to close the show or not. One way or another, that will never happen today,” Lopez said. “This case is one of the most difficult I have had. When you look at it, I think creditors would be better off exercising their rights in state court.”
Many of Jones’ personal assets will be sold off, but his primary home in the Austin area and some other belongings are exempt from bankruptcy liquidation. He has already sold his Texas ranch worth about $2.8 million, his gun collection and other assets to pay off debts.
Ahead of Friday’s hearing, Jones told his online and radio audiences that Free Speech Systems was on the verge of going out of business due to bankruptcy. He encouraged them to download videos from his online archive to save them and pointed them to his father’s company’s new website if they wanted to continue buying the nutritional supplements he sells on his show.
“Probably, very, very soon the end of information wars will come here. If not today, then in the next few weeks or months,” Jones told reporters ahead of Friday’s hearing. “But this is only the beginning of my fight against tyranny.”
Jones has approximately $9 million in personal assets, according to recent financial documents filed in court. Free Speech Systems, which employs 44 people, has about $6 million in cash and about $1.2 million in inventory, according to J. Patrick Magill, the chief restructuring officer appointed by the court to run the company through bankruptcy. .
Jones and free speech systems filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022, when relatives of many of the victims of the 2012 school shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, won lawsuits over $1.4 billion in Connecticut And $49 million in Texas.
Chris Mattei, the families’ attorney in the Connecticut case, said eliminating free speech systems “will allow Connecticut families to enforce their $1.4 billion in judgments now and in the future, while denying Jones the opportunity to cause widespread harm as he did.” . made for about 25 years.”
Relatives said they were traumatized by Jones’ comments and the actions of his followers. They testified that harassed and threatened Jones believers, some of whom personally addressed the grieving families, 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 protection, which would have allowed him to operate Infowars while paying families from proceeds from his show. But the two sides could not agree on a final plan, and Jones recently applied for a permit transfer your personal bankruptcy from reorganization to liquidation.
The families involved in the Connecticut lawsuit, including relatives of the eight children and adults who died, asked that the Free Speech Systems bankruptcy case also be converted to liquidation. But the parents of the Texas lawsuit, whose child, 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, died, want the company’s case dismissed.
The company’s lawyers submitted documents showing it supported liquidation, but attorneys in Jones’ personal bankruptcy case wanted a judge to throw out the company’s case.
Kyle Kimpler, a lawyer for the families seeking the dissolution, told the judge that dismissing the case could lead to a “race to the courthouse.” It is possible that one family will receive everything and another will receive nothing, he added.
Although Jones has since admitted that the Sandy Hook shooting happened, in his recent shows he has said that Democrats and the “deep state” were conspiring to shut down his companies and deny him his right to free speech. He also stated that Sandy Hook families are being used as pawns in a conspiracy. Lawyers for the families say this is nonsense.
The families face a trial in Texas. accusing Jones of illegally diverting and concealing millions of dollars. Jones has denied the allegations.