Alex Jones files for bankruptcy following $1.5 billion Sandy Hook verdicts
Last edited Fri Dec 2, 2022, 02:04 PM - Edit history (2)
Source: Reuters
Dec 2 (Reuters) - Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy on Friday, after he and the parent of his Infowars website were ordered to pay about $1.5 billion for spreading lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting.
Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, a court filing showed.
The filing said Jones has between $1 million and $10 million of assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion of liabilities. The extent of Jones' personal wealth is unclear.
Jones claimed for years that the 2012 killing of 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was staged with actors as part of a government plot to seize Americans guns. He has since acknowledged the shooting occurred, but plaintiffs said Jones cashed in for years off his lies about the massacre.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/alex-jones-files-bankruptcy-following-sandy-hook-verdict-court-filing-2022-12-02/
Article now updated.
Previous headlines/articles -
Dec 2 (Reuters) - Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy on Friday, less than two months after a jury ordered him and the parent company of his Infowars website to pay nearly $1 billion for spreading lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting.
Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, a court filing showed.
The filing said Jones has between $1 million and $10 million of assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion of liabilities. The extent of Jones' personal wealth is unclear. A lawyer for Jones did not immediately return a request for comment.
Jones claimed for years that the 2012 killing of 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was staged with actors as part of a government plot to seize Americans' guns. He has since acknowledged the shooting occurred. In October, a Connecticut jury ordered Jones and Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to numerous families of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, a court filing showed. The filing said Jones has between $1 million and $10 million of assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion of liabilities.
In October, a Connecticut jury in a case brought by relatives of more than a dozen Sandy Hook victims ordered Jones and Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, to pay nearly $1 billion in damages.
Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in July.
Dec 2 (Reuters) - Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy on Friday, less than two months after a jury ordered him and the parent company of his Infowars website to pay nearly $1 billion in compensatory damages to relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting.
Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, a court filing showed.
The filing said Jones has between $1 million and $10 million of assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion of liabilities. It also refers to Free Speech Systems, a Jones affiliate and Infowars' parent, as having filed for bankruptcy in July.
In October, a Connecticut jury in a case brought by relatives of more than a dozen Sandy Hook victims ordered Jones and Free Speech Systems to pay nearly $1 billion in damages. In a separate case in Texas, a jury in August decided Jones must pay the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Sandy Hook massacre $45.2 million in punitive damages, on top of $4.1 million in compensatory damages.
Short article (so far).
Original article -
Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, a court filing showed.
The filing said Jones has between $1 million and $10 million of assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion of liabilities. It also refers to Free Speech Systems, a Jones affiliate and Infowars' parent, as having filed for bankruptcy in July.
Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)I told her to please kick his ass! She can too!
BumRushDaShow
(127,317 posts)iscooterliberally
(2,849 posts)I'll bet Jones's DNA test came back as over 90% ass.
multigraincracker
(32,531 posts)Always "follow the money".
BumRushDaShow
(127,317 posts)(may have been from a video posted on DU) about how he has hidden his money all over the place.
This was an older mention of it - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142901004
bluestarone
(16,722 posts)I believe (if i remember) the court is watching his money? Whomever that person is, they better be watching everyday what this creep is doing!
BumRushDaShow
(127,317 posts)because I know he had filed some sort of bankruptcy earlier - and it was for the parent company of InfoWars - and THAT is where the extra oversight was ordered -
Citing a lack of candor, including over the Infowars fabulists lavish spending, the judge ordered substantive changes to his companys oversight.
By Elizabeth Williamson
Published Sept. 20, 2022 Updated Sept. 29, 2022
WATERBURY, Conn. A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston ordered new personnel to oversee the bankruptcy of Alex Joness Infowars late on Tuesday, citing an ongoing lack of transparency, including over Mr. Joness lavish personal spending. Judge Christopher Lopez dismissed Mr. Joness attorney and chief restructuring officer in the bankruptcy of Free Speech Systems, Infowars parent company, and expanded the duties of a Department of Justice-appointed trustee already monitoring the case.
The judge authorized the trustee to hire additional legal and other help, specifying that any new hires must have no connection to any of these cases, he said, citing a need to investigate insider relationships. There has to be greater transparency in this case, Judge Lopez said during the hearing on Tuesday, pointing to concerns with spending and other disclosures on the part of the company, which is run by Mr. Jones. Without transparency, people lose faith in the process, he added, referring to the federal bankruptcy system.
The lawyer and restructuring officer were together attempting to reorganize the company as part of the bankruptcy. In dismissing them, the judge did not fault their work, but rather cited a lack of candor on the part of the company, whose moves are dictated by Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones put Free Speech Systems into bankruptcy in late July and has said he owes $54 million to PQPR, an entity owned and operated directly and indirectly by Mr. Jones and his parents. He filed the bankruptcy partly in response to ongoing litigation against him by the family members of 10 Sandy Hook victims, who say the bankruptcy is a gambit to prevent them from collecting what promise to be heavy financial damages in the cases.
(snip)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/us/politics/alex-jones-bankruptcy-judge.html
Apparently today's filing is for his own personal bankruptcy...
bluestarone
(16,722 posts)TY for finding and posting this!!
BumRushDaShow
(127,317 posts)I remember hearing about shenanigans going on but finally found something that detailed it and the aftermath!!!
slightlv
(2,637 posts)I do hope they will follow THIS money trail. The dirtbag shouldn't be allowed to hide money all over the world just to save his butt. Take it all. I've never seen anyone so deserving of it.
BumRushDaShow
(127,317 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)live love laugh
(13,009 posts)WA-03 Democrat
(3,017 posts)Are not dischargeable in BK
live love laugh
(13,009 posts)twodogsbarking
(9,308 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,317 posts)Also known as reorganization, Chapter 11 bankruptcy is for individuals and, more commonly, businesses to restructure debt. It allows the filer to draft a plan to repay some debt while retaining assets.
Corporations filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy dont risk putting shareholders assets at risk since the business is considered a separate entity from shareowners. In a sole proprietorship business, on the other hand, the owner and debtor are the same person, so both personal and business assets are considered in a Chapter 11 filing.
Chapter 11 is much more complicated and expensive, making it financially feasible mainly for businesses and wealthy individuals.
https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/debt/most-common-types-of-bankruptcy/
twodogsbarking
(9,308 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,317 posts)tied up in shell and front companies. That's why his business bankruptcy had been forced into getting extra oversight -
Citing a lack of candor, including over the Infowars fabulists lavish spending, the judge ordered substantive changes to his companys oversight.
By Elizabeth Williamson
Published Sept. 20, 2022 Updated Sept. 29, 2022
WATERBURY, Conn. A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston ordered new personnel to oversee the bankruptcy of Alex Joness Infowars late on Tuesday, citing an ongoing lack of transparency, including over Mr. Joness lavish personal spending. Judge Christopher Lopez dismissed Mr. Joness attorney and chief restructuring officer in the bankruptcy of Free Speech Systems, Infowars parent company, and expanded the duties of a Department of Justice-appointed trustee already monitoring the case.
The judge authorized the trustee to hire additional legal and other help, specifying that any new hires must have no connection to any of these cases, he said, citing a need to investigate insider relationships. There has to be greater transparency in this case, Judge Lopez said during the hearing on Tuesday, pointing to concerns with spending and other disclosures on the part of the company, which is run by Mr. Jones. Without transparency, people lose faith in the process, he added, referring to the federal bankruptcy system.
The lawyer and restructuring officer were together attempting to reorganize the company as part of the bankruptcy. In dismissing them, the judge did not fault their work, but rather cited a lack of candor on the part of the company, whose moves are dictated by Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones put Free Speech Systems into bankruptcy in late July and has said he owes $54 million to PQPR, an entity owned and operated directly and indirectly by Mr. Jones and his parents. He filed the bankruptcy partly in response to ongoing litigation against him by the family members of 10 Sandy Hook victims, who say the bankruptcy is a gambit to prevent them from collecting what promise to be heavy financial damages in the cases.
(snip)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/us/politics/alex-jones-bankruptcy-judge.html
Temeret
(80 posts)"Defamation is pretty clearly an intentional tort - it is especially clear in Alex Jones's case,' Block-Lieb said.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/alex-jones-files-bankruptcy-following-sandy-hook-verdict-court-filing-2022-12-02/
dutch777
(2,871 posts)He won't just go away, as long as he has airwaves or internet presence somewhere there will be enough delusional followers to bankroll him to some extent. But keep him in the misery of endless litigation even if no one can shut him up entirely. (God! Are you there and listening??)
oldsoftie
(12,410 posts)And the people who believe him
bucolic_frolic
(42,676 posts)Scruffy1
(3,239 posts)I think he will commit bankruptcy fraud because fraud is all he knows. The feds often nail grifters they couldn't get in other ways.
Martin68
(22,671 posts)republianmushroom
(13,061 posts)ZZenith
(4,110 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(144,005 posts)tonekat
(1,805 posts)...those who terrorized the Sandy Hook parents who lost their children so violently are made to pay their considerable dues.
ck4829
(34,977 posts)The Grand Illuminist
(1,306 posts)Just like the Goldmans still has to, the families will have to wait an unbelievably long time to see some of the money.