Notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ assets will be sold to pay off the $1.5 billion debt owed to the families of Sandy Hook massacre victims

Judge Christopher Lopez approved Jones’ proposed personal bankruptcy reorganization into liquidation, but denied an attempt to reorganize his company, Austin-based Free Speech Systems, Texas. Many Sandy Hook families asked for the company to be liquidated.

If Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy reorganization is converted into liquidation, Jones could lose ownership of the company, its social media accounts, the Infowars studio in Austin and all copyrights and assets of The company has been sold. Jones smiled as the judge dismissed the company’s lawsuit.

It’s unclear what will happen to Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, which Jones built into a multimillion-dollar company over the past 25 years.

According to attorneys involved in the case, one possible scenario is that the company and Infowars are allowed to continue operating while efforts to collect the $1.5 billion in debt are carried out in state courts in Texas. and Connecticut, where the families won their lawsuit against Jones.

Another scenario is that Sandy Hook family lawyers go back to bankruptcy court and ask Lopez to liquidate the company as part of Jones’ personal case, since Jones owns the business, the attorneys said.

Lopez said his sole focus in determining whether to dismiss Free Speech Systems’ lawsuit or order liquidation is what’s best for the company and its creditors, including the Sandy Hook family. Lopez also said the Free Speech System case appears to be one of the longest-running cases of its kind in the country and is approaching a deadline for resolution.

“Today I have never been asked to make a decision whether to close a show or not. That would never happen today one way or another,” Lopez said. “This case is one of the more difficult cases I have ever encountered. When you look at it, I think creditors would be better served pursuing their state court rights.”

Many of Jones’ personal assets will be sold, but his primary home in the Austin area and several other assets are exempt from bankruptcy liquidation. He turned to selling his Texas ranch worth about $2.8 million, a gun collection and other assets to pay off debt.

Before Friday’s hearing, Jones told web viewers and radio listeners that the Free Speech System was about to be shut down due to bankruptcy. He urged them to download the videos from his online archive to preserve them, and pointed them to a new website for his father’s company if they wanted to continue buying the supplements he sold. in your program.

“This is probably the end of Infowars here very soon. If not today then in the next few weeks or months,” Jones told reporters before Friday’s hearing. “But this is just the beginning of my fight against tyranny.”

According to the most recent financial records filed with the court, Jones has about $9 million in personal assets. Free Speech Systems, which has 44 employees, has about $6 million in cash and about $1.2 million in cash, according to J. Patrick Magill, the chief restructuring officer appointed by the court to run the company during bankruptcy. inventory.

Jones and the Free Speech System File for bankruptcy protection in 2022, when relatives of many of the victims of the 2012 school shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, won a court decision. more than $1.4 billion in Connecticut And $49 million in Texas.

Chris Mattei, an attorney for the families in the Connecticut case, said liquidating the Free Speech System would “allow Connecticut families to enforce their $1.4 billion judgments now and in the future, while also depriving Jones of the ability to cause mass harm as he did.” carried out for about 25 years.”

Relatives said they were hurt by Jones’ comments and the actions of his followers. They testified about it harassed and threatened by Jones believers, some of whom have personally confronted grieving families who say the shooting never happened and their children never existed. A parent said someone threatened to dig up his dead son’s grave.

Jones and Free Speech Systems initially filed for bankruptcy protection to reorganize, which would have allowed him to run Infowars while paying the families with revenue from his show. But the two sides could not agree on the final plan and Jones recently applied for permission to convert your personal bankruptcy from reorganization to dissolution.

The families in the Connecticut lawsuit, including relatives of the eight children and adults who died, have asked that Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy also be moved into liquidation. But the parents in the Texas lawsuit – whose child, 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, died – want the company’s lawsuit dismissed.

The company’s lawyers have filed documents showing they support liquidation, but Jones’ personal bankruptcy attorneys want the judge to dismiss the company’s lawsuit.

Kyle Kimpler, an attorney for the families seeking liquidation, told the judge that dismissing the case could lead to a “race to the courts.” It’s possible, he added, that one family can get everything while another family gets nothing.

Although Jones has admitted that the Sandy Hook shooting happened, on his recent shows he has said that Democrats and the “deep state” are plotting to shut down companies him and deprive him of his right to freedom of speech. He also said the Sandy Hook family is being used as pawns in this plot. The family’s lawyer said that was nonsense.

The families have a lawsuit pending in Texas accused Jones of illegally diverting and hiding millions of dollars. Jones has denied the allegations.