According to court records, right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones requested personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday in a Texas court.
According to the documents, Jones values his obligations at between $1 and $10 billion and his assets at between $1 and $10 million. Free Speech Systems, the main business of the Infowars presenter, also requested bankruptcy protection in July.
Jones filed his personal lawsuit after failing in his Texas attempt to get the jury’s almost $50 million damages judgment for making untrue statements about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre reduced.
Jones repeatedly claimed that the 2012 mass shooting, which left 26 dead, was staged and that the victims’ relatives and first responders were “crisis actors” after the incident.
Jones’s personal bankruptcy filing “will not work,” a Connecticut lawyer who represents the families of Sandy Hook victims told CNN.
Now that he’s lost his court cases and has hundreds of millions of compensation levied against him for his hate-spewing vitriol, #AlexJones declared personal bankruptcy today. I saw articles warning of this bc he was shifting $ around to family members & businesses. #Guilty
— 🌻Mary Anne👩🏻⚕️👩🏻🏫👩🏻💻🌈🌻 (@marpan8iv) December 2, 2022
Attorney Christopher Mattei told CNN, “Like every previous cowardly action Alex Jones has made, this bankruptcy will not succeed.” “Anyone who engages in deliberate and flagrant attacks on others, as Mr. Jones did, is not protected by the bankruptcy system. Alex Jones will be held accountable by the American legal system, and we won’t stop fighting to have the jury’s decision followed.
Jones first lied repeatedly about the 2012 incident, but when numerous lawsuits were filed against him, he finally admitted that the slaughter had taken place. However, he disobeyed court orders throughout the discovery phase of the lawsuits in Texas and Connecticut, resulting in default judgments against him being obtained by the families in each state.
The most recent ruling in Texas is the latest in a string of decisions and trials that have cost Jones money. In addition, Jones is also liable for paying $1.4 billion in a separate Connecticut action brought by eight families of Sandy Hook victims and a first responder. On Friday, a hearing in Connecticut was planned to go over Jones’ assets.
In Connecticut, a trial was placed in September and October. During the trial, the plaintiffs in that complaint spoke movingly about how the lies had led to the constant harassment of them and made the emotional pain of losing their loved ones worse.
Mattei also tweeted on Friday, in part, “Alex Jones can’t discharge his debt to the Sandy Hook victims in bankruptcy court because the jury ruled him accountable for attacking the families intentionally.”
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