Judge rejects bankruptcy sale of Alex Jones' Infowars to The Onion
The judge criticized the auction process as flawed and said the outcome "left a lot of money on the table" for Sandy Hook families.
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The judge criticized the auction process as flawed and said the outcome "left a lot of money on the table" for Sandy Hook families.
Satirical publication The Onion, with the support of Sandy Hook families, purchased the bankrupt site of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
The conspiracy theorist has proposed paying the families of Sandy Hook victims a fraction of the nearly $1.5 billion which they were awarded in judgements against him.
Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist known for his fake news site InfoWars and his false denial of the Sandy Hook massacre, was permanently banned from Twitter in 2018.
Families of those killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have made an offer to Alex Jones to pay only a fraction of the $1.5 billion in legal judgments they won against him.
A Texas judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying more than $1.1 billion to families who sued over his conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
Lawyers for several families of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting are criticizing Alex Jones' personal spending as they seek nearly $1.5 billion they won in lawsuits against the Infowars host.
Jones has laughed at the judgements on his Infowars show, saying he has less than $2 million to his name and won't be able to pay such high amounts.
Infowars host Alex Jones has filed for personal bankruptcy protection in Texas as he faces nearly $1.5 billion in court judgments over conspiracy theories he spread about the Sandy Hook school massacre.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his company have been ordered to pay an extra $473 million to families and an FBI agent for calling the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax.
Jones filed the requests Friday, saying Judge Barbara Bellis' pretrial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and "a substantial miscarriage of justice."
"Every plaintiff's lawyer knows from often bitter experiences that it is usually easier to get a judgment than to enforce it," said Columbia University law professor John Coffee.
The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host.
The far-right broadcaster and conspiracy theorist had called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting "a hoax."
A Texas jury has ordered far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay the parents of a victim of the Sandy Hook school shooting $45.2 million in punitive damages.
The conspiracy theorist and far-right broadcaster had earlier been found liable for defamation in a rare default judgment.
"I wanted to tell you to your face. ... Jesse was real. I am a real mom," Scarlett Lewis told Alex Jones. "...I know you know that, and that's the problem."
Families of the Sandy Hook victims said they were subject to harassment and death threats from Jones' followers over his bogus claims that the shooting was a hoax.
