According to filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Sunday, three companies run by controversial radio host and internet celebrity Alex Jones, including his flagship company Infowars, IWhealth and Prison Planet TV, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid lawsuits over his previous claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.
The filings allow Jones and his businesses to continue operating while slowing civil litigation against them, Bloomberg Reported. The move puts civil litigation on hold and gives Jones time to reorganize his and his companies finances.
In the filing Infowars says that it has assets of $0 to $50,000 and liabilities of $1,000,001 to $10 million.
Jones has reportedly turned over $725,000 to be held in trust to cover the cost of the bankruptcies. According to court filings Jones has spent $10 million on legal costs defending himself and his companies in court.
In 2021, Jones lost two defamation lawsuits filed by the families of the victims of Sandy Hook. At the time a Connecticut judge said Jones was liable by default for refusing to hand over documents the court had demanded about his businesses. Subsequently, Jones offered the families $120,000 each to resolve the case; however, the families refused.
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In the lawsuits, relatives of the 20 children and six educators that were killed in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut massacre, claimed that they have been subjected to harassment and even death threats from Jones’ followers. A judge found Jones liable for damages and set a trial date for August to determine how much Jones will need to pay to each of the families.
Jones has since recanted his previous claims concerning the tragedy and now says he believes the shooting occurred.
Last month, a judge ordered Jones be fined $25,000 per day after he repeatedly failed to appear at a deposition on the matter. Jones had claimed that he was ill and was unable to attend the court proceedings.
In total Jones was fined $75,000 which was returned to him after attending a deposition in Bridgeport on April 5 and 6.
Neil Heslin, father of Jesse Lewis, a 6-year-old who died in the Newton school shooting said he did not know how the bankruptcy filings will affect his defamation suit against Jones telling NBC New York, “It is what it is. We’ll see where it all goes. He’s tried everything to avoid everything.”
Jones accused of hiding millions in assets
Another lawsuit that Jones is facing accuses the Infowars host of hiding millions of dollars in assets shortly after families of the Sandy Hook victims began taking him to court.
The lawsuit, which was filed on April 6, 2022, in Austin, Texas by some of the Sandy Hook families states that “After Alex Jones was sued for claiming the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary was a hoax, the infamous conspiracy theorist conspired to divert his assets to shell companies owned by insiders like his parents, his children, and himself.”
Jones is accused of drawing upwards of $18 million from his Infowars companies over a period of three years, beginning in 2018 just after the defamation lawsuits were filed.
In addition, Jones is also accused of claiming debt in the amount of $54 million to another company which the suit alleges is indirectly or directly owned by Jones.
Jones’ attorney, Norm Pattis, said that there have been no efforts to hide Jones’ assets, telling NBC New York in an email that “The suggestion is ridiculous. We look forward to litigating these issues.”
