jones

Judge rules Alex Jones can’t use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying Sandy Hook families

HOUSTON – 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.

The decision is another significant defeat for Jones in the wake of juries in Texas and Connecticut punishing him over spreading falsehoods about the nation’s deadliest school shooting. U.S. District Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston issued the ruling Thursday.

Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year and more recent financial documents submitted by his attorneys put his personal net worth around $14 million. But Lopez ruled that those protections do not apply over findings of “willful and malicious” conduct.

“The families are pleased with the Court’s ruling that Jones’s malicious conduct will find no safe harbor in the bankruptcy court,” said Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer for the families. “As a result, Jones will continue to be accountable for his actions into the future regardless of his claimed bankruptcy.”

An attorney for Jones did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.

On his Infowars website, Jones posted a video saying the judge’s ruling will have little practical

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October 26, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Jones can’t use bankruptcy to avoid Sandy Hook payments

HOUSTON (AP) — 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.

The decision is another significant defeat for Jones in the wake of juries in Texas and Connecticut punishing him over spreading falsehoods about the nation’s deadliest school shooting. U.S. District Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston issued the ruling Thursday.

Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year and more recent financial documents submitted by his attorneys put his personal net worth around $14 million. But Lopez ruled that those protections do not apply over findings of “willful and malicious” conduct.

“The families are pleased with the Court’s ruling that Jones’s malicious conduct will find no safe harbor in the bankruptcy court,” said Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer for the families. “As a result, Jones will continue to be accountable for his actions into the future regardless of his claimed bankruptcy.”

An attorney for Jones did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.

On his Infowars website, Jones posted a video saying the judge’s ruling will have little

… Read the rest
October 24, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Alex Jones can’t use bankruptcy to avoid paying for Sandy Hook

Jones’ personal spending topped $93,000 in July alone, including thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment.

HOUSTON — 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.

The decision is another significant defeat for Jones in the wake of juries in Texas and Connecticut punishing him over spreading falsehoods about the nation’s deadliest school shooting. U.S. District Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston issued the ruling Thursday.

Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year and more recent financial documents submitted by his attorneys put his personal net worth around $14 million. But Lopez ruled that those protections do not apply over findings of “willful and malicious” conduct.

“The families are pleased with the Court’s ruling that Jones’s malicious conduct will find no safe harbor in the bankruptcy court,” said Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer for the families. “As a result, Jones will continue to be accountable for his actions into the future regardless of his claimed bankruptcy.”

An attorney for Jones did not immediately return a message seeking comment

… Read the rest
October 23, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Sandy Hook Families Say Alex Jones Cannot Hide Behind Bankruptcy

Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families who won historic defamation damages against the Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones told a federal bankruptcy judge in Houston on Tuesday that Mr. Jones should not be allowed to use his Chapter 11 filing to evade $1 billion-plus verdicts made against him.

The families asked that the judge, Christopher Lopez, order Mr. Jones to pay them the full damage awards, with no possibility of a trial or a forced settlement over a lesser amount — in legal terminology, to make Mr. Jones’s debts to the families “non-dischargeable” through bankruptcy. If the judge rules in the families’ favor, Mr. Jones would likely be working the rest of his life to pay the debt.

Mr. Jones spent years spreading lies that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax aimed at gun control. Families of 10 victims sued him for defamation, and in trials in Texas and Connecticut were awarded about $1.4 billion in damages. As the cases went to trial, Infowars declared bankruptcy, and Mr. Jones declared personal bankruptcy late last year.

The families have been fighting him in bankruptcy court

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August 16, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Alex Jones Discloses More Guns, Moving Crypto in Bankruptcy (1)

Right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones and his lawyers told creditors involved in his bankruptcy that he has 49 firearms and donated about $7.8 million worth of cryptocurrency to his businesses.

As creditors scrutinize his assets, Jones and his lawyers also said at a meeting Thursday that he owns several Rolex watches and a bag of silver coins.

The Department of Justice’s bankruptcy watchdog, the US Trustee, and others used the meeting to ask Jones questions about personal financial statements he filed last week.

Jones’ personal bankruptcy has temporarily protected him against roughly $1.4 billion in defamation judgments. Juries have found Jones and his company, Infowars parent Free Speech Systems LLC, financially liable for spreading falsehoods about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 children and six school staffers.

Jones’ bankruptcy protects him from creditor collection efforts and other court proceedings, but he is required to disclose all of his assets and business activities.

Last week, Jones disclosed that he has been “holding firearms” for people who participated in the Jan. 6 attack at the US Capitol.

US Trustee Jayson Ruff on Thursday told Jones that he needs to better describe his personal and household items.

“It needs to

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March 4, 2023 by ATTORNEY
December 2023
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