06/14/2024

Judge Orders Alex Jones to Sell Personal Property to Pay Sandy Hook Families

Jones' personal belongings will be liquidated

It's a day of reckoning today for Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and a long-awaited culmination for the Sandy Hook families who sued Jones for defamation. A federal bankruptcy judge in Texas has decided that Jones must sell off his personal assets through a Chapter 7 liquidation in order to pay families nearly $1.5 billion in damages for spreading lies that the 2012 school shooting never happened.

The judge is still considering whether Jones' media company, Free Speech Systems, should also be converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation. The families who sued Jones are divided on whether that is the best path forward. But one way or another, the company that produces Jones' Infowars show will also be sold — and either shut down or reimagined by a new buyer — with proceeds going to pay the families.

A trustee was appointed Friday afternoon to take over control of Jones' personal estate. Liquidation means Jones' personal belongings — from his gun collection to his jewelry — will be auctioned to the highest bidder in something of a fire sale. He could even lose access to his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, where he currently has 2.3 million followers. However, Texas law allows him to keep his home, which is worth more than $2 million.

Please select this link to read the complete article from NPR.