Radio host Alex Jones on Thursday asked a U.S. court to convert his bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding, abandoning efforts to settle a huge legal judgment related to comments he made about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Reuters Report Jones believes there is “no prospect of a successful restructuring” of the debt, most of which stems from $1.5 billion paid in defamation lawsuits, his lawyers said in a court filing.
A Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding would not allow Jones to avoid paying legal judgments, but it would provide a streamlined process for selling his personal assets under the supervision of a court-appointed trustee.
The move paves the way for a future in which Jones will no longer own Infowars, which he founded in the late 1990s.
According to a Reuters report, courts in Texas and Connecticut have each ordered Jones to pay $1.5 billion to the families of 20 students and six staff members killed in the Sandy Hook High School shooting.
File/Infowars host Alex Jones arrives at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas on April 18, 2020. The protest followed protests across the country who took to the streets to call for the country to open up, despite the risks of COVID-19. (Sergio Flores/Getty Images)
Bankruptcy can be used to wipe out debts and legal judgments, but the judge presiding over Jones’ case ruled in October that most of the defamation judgments were the result of “intentional and malicious damage” by Jones and therefore cannot be legally discharged.
The move comes after Jones warned on Saturday that Infowars could be shut down sooner rather than later, Breitbart News reported.
“This will be my last Infowars show, because I found out yesterday that they were going to padlock the door and kick us out,” Jones said.
He added: “We’re going to beat these guys. I don’t want to overstate it, but it’s been a tough fight.”
FILE/Infowars founder Alex Jones, left, takes questions from plaintiffs’ attorney Chris Mattei and Judge Barbara Bellis, right, during testimony in the Sandy Hook defamation trial in Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn., Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool, File)
“I was the target of abuse. Someone framed me. Secret federal documents say I committed a crime. Of course this is not true,” Jones concluded.
Jones’ liquidation doesn’t mean Infowars is going away, CNN Note.
There are several possible outcomes, including the possibility that a court-appointed receiver could sell the business to another owner.
