Alex Jones’ company ‘fabricated’ debt, Sandy Hook families say

The families objected to Jones’ company’s request for the court to authorize the use of cash collateral to “pay reasonable and necessary operating expenses.”

The objection alleges that the debt is based on a “fabricated, allegedly secured loan from an affiliated, insider entity of the debtor, PQPR,” attorneys wrote in their objection filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Texas on behalf of the Sandy Hook families involved in the three defamation cases against Jones in Connecticut and Texas, as well as a Norwalk man he defamed over the Parkland, Fla. shooting.Last week, Jones sued his own company, Free Speech Systems, to be held harmless in any award, meaning that the company and not Jones would be liable for any damages.

An initial response filed by attorneys for the families, called the attempt a “fiction” in which “found facts and sworn testimony mean nothing at all.”

One day later, Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy. In the objection filed this week, attorneys for the families say the debt the bankruptcy filing is based on is “illegitimate” because the debt is owed to another Jones-owned company, PQPR.

“The debtor’s filings already concede that PQPR is insider-owned and controlled by the Jones family,” the objection says.

While Free Speech Systems alleges that the companies act independently, the objection suggests otherwise: “Discovery conducted in Connecticut and Texas, however, demonstrates that Alex Jones controlled the business decisions of both entities and that the business operations of the two supposedly separate entities are so intertwined and so completely controlled by Jones that they are functionally one business.”

On his television show Tuesday, Jones said his goal with the bankruptcy filing is to show his limited assets.

“Once you’re in bankruptcy, it’s all there in the court and the bonds for the appeals are half your net worth,” he said. “Well, that’s not going to be very much, maybe a million, a million-and-a-half dollars or something.”

Jones also said on the air that the bankruptcy filing was intended to delay any payments to parents.

“We’ll be able to continue on with appeals and the rest of it for years,” he said.

Jones is being sued by several Sandy Hook families, who say they were defamed when the host and his company called them liars, said the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting never happened, that the children who died were “crisis actors” and that the shooting itself was a “false flag.”

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, plaintiffs in one of those cases, being heard in Austin, are asking for $150 million.

When Jones sued Free Speech Systems, the intent according to the filing was “to indemnify and hold harmless Alex Emric Jones from any damages or other costs which may be assessed or entered against him in this litigation.”

In Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy filing, the company alleges that the majority of its revenue is based on the sale of dietary supplements, but that since 2018, “FSS relied on PQPR as no other vendor would supply the supplements for Jones to advertise on his shows.”

“Today, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, PayPal, and Apple have banned Infowars and Jones,” the filing says. “Since being deplatformed by most mainstream commercial entities in 2018, FSS has had to operate in a harsh and unfriendly commercial environment.”

“Since 2018, FSS has had difficulty finding third parties willing and able to fulfill product sales,” the filing says, relying on an arrangement with PQPR to provide product for Jones to sell on his show.

As of the filing date, Free Speech Systems is said to owe PQPR $54,834,501.29 in principal and interest. The filing calls PQPR “an affiliated entity.”

The parents’ objection alleges that Jones has been diverting assets as a way to hide his funds.

“Soon after Texas and Connecticut Plaintiffs filed their defamation cases, the debtor started diverting assets,” the objection says, alleging that Jones was paid $60 million by Free Speech Systems, in addition to a $1.4 million yearly salary.

Four of the parents involved in the defamation cases similarly claimed in April that Jones had “transferred millions of dollars from his fortune” to shield his assets from them.

The bankruptcy filing stalled jury selection on Tuesday in the Connecticut case against Jones, led by Erica Lafferty, whose mother died in the 2012 shooting.

A case in Texas, where Judge Maya Guerra Gamble has been presiding over the second week of arguments, has not been delayed, though Jones did raise the bankruptcy when he took the stand Tuesday.

“You may not tell this jury you are bankrupt, that is not true, you may have filed for bankruptcy but that doesn’t make you bankrupt,” Gamble told Jones.