Houston (AFP) – A US judge on Friday approved the sale of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' personal assets, setting the stage for him to repay some of the roughly $1.5 billion in damages he owes to families who lost loved ones in school shootings.
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But a Houston bankruptcy judge granted Jones a reprieve from liquidating the parent company of Infowars, a far-right website notorious for spreading misinformation for years, allowing the site to continue operating.
The serial provocateur was previously ordered to pay damages for calling the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, which left 20 first-graders and six adults dead, a “hoax.”
But Jones then filed for bankruptcy in his native Texas in 2022, saying his liabilities far exceeded his personal assets, which were worth about $9 million, according to his latest court filings.
Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems of Texas, also declared bankruptcy.
A judge on Friday allowed Jones' personal bankruptcy case to be converted to a regular liquidation proceeding, but this will result in only a small portion of the compensation being paid to the victims' families.
The ruling means that much of Jones' personal assets will be sold to pay off his debts, including his Texas ranch, valued at about $2.8 million, though some assets, including his Austin-area home, will reportedly be exempt from the bankruptcy proceedings.
If the court had ordered the parent company liquidated, Jones would have lost control of his lucrative Infowars business empire.
Before the verdict, Jones had warned a broad, right-wing audience that his company was on the verge of closing down.
A headline on his website early Friday morning read: “This Might Be the Final Broadcast of Infowars! Don't Miss It!”
But following the judge's ruling, Infowars hailed the website for a “surprising victory” in court that has allowed it to continue operating.
“We should celebrate the fact that we're not dead yet,” Jones said.
Those who benefit from misinformation
There was no immediate response from the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Jones, a widely known misinformation profiteer, appears to have made a fortune by successfully blending conspiracy theories with his Infowars store merchandise and nutritional supplements.
The site promoted male energy supplements and testosterone boosters, while also claiming that the government was using chemical pollutants to feminize men and turn them gay.
His customers argued that the other products his store could supply — nonperishable food, bulletproof vests and even homemade gun parts — would help them survive a variety of doomsday scenarios.
In his latest post on Twitter, Jones called on his 2.3 million followers to support another website, Dr. Jones' Naturals, which sells similar products available on Infowars.
Misinformation experts say the lucrative deal highlights the financial incentives content creators have to spread conspiracy-theoretic material that can go viral.
Experts say this shows the difficulty of curbing misinformation online, where false and inflammatory content often spreads faster and generates more attention and revenue than the truth.
Americans and pro-democracy groups are increasingly using defamation lawsuits as a way to hold those who spread misinformation accountable.
Families of those who lost loved ones in the Connecticut shooting say they have been harassed and threatened by Jones' fans for years, with strangers turning up to their homes to engage in confrontations and taunting them online.
Some reported receiving rape and death threats.
© 2024 AFP
