On Friday, a federal judge ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' personal assets while dismissing the bankruptcy case of his company's Free Speech Systems. This decision leaves the future of Jones' Infowars media platform uncertain as he owes $1.5 billion in damages for falsely claiming that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
Judge Christopher Lopez ruled to convert Jones' proposed personal bankruptcy reorganisation into a liquidation, a move that allows for the sale of his personal assets to pay off creditors, including the Sandy Hook families. However, he dismissed the bankruptcy reorganisation of Free Speech Systems, based in Austin, Texas, which many of the Sandy Hook families had also sought to be liquidated.
If the company’s reorganisation had been converted to liquidation, Jones could have lost control of Free Speech Systems and all its assets, including social media accounts, the Infowars studio, and copyrights. Jones expressed relief as the judge dismissed the company’s case.
The future of Free Speech Systems remains uncertain. One possibility is that the company and Infowars will continue operating while efforts to collect the $1.5 billion debt proceed in state courts in Texas and Connecticut, where the families won their lawsuits against Jones. Another potential scenario is that the Sandy Hook families’ lawyers might request the bankruptcy court to include the company in Jones' personal liquidation due to his ownership of the business.
Judge Lopez emphasized that his decision was based on what would best serve the company and its creditors, including the Sandy Hook families, rather than shutting down Infowars. He noted the long duration of the case and the nearing deadline to resolve it, stating that creditors might be better served by pursuing their rights in state courts.
Jones’ personal assets set for liquidation include his Texas ranch, valued at about $2.8 million, a gun collection, and other properties. His primary home in the Austin area and some other belongings are exempted from bankruptcy liquidation. Despite his public claims that Free Speech Systems was on the brink of shutdown due to the bankruptcy, Jones has continued to prepare his audience for potential changes, urging them to preserve Infowars content and directing them to alternative purchasing channels for his dietary supplements.
Free Speech Systems employs 44 people, with $6 million in cash and about $1.2 million worth of inventory. Jones has around $9 million in personal assets according to recent court filings. The company and Jones filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 following lawsuit judgments totaling more than $1.4 billion in Connecticut and $49 million in Texas, resulting from Jones’ defamatory claims about the Sandy Hook massacre.
Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the families in Connecticut, argued that liquidating Free Speech Systems would allow the families to enforce their judgments and prevent Jones from continuing to spread harmful misinformation. The families testified about harassment and threats from Jones' followers, who believed his false claims that the shooting was staged.
Although Jones has since acknowledged the reality of the Sandy Hook shooting, he continues to assert on his show that Democrats and the "deep state" are conspiring against him, using the families as pawns. The families' lawyers dismiss these claims as baseless.
The families also have a pending lawsuit in Texas accusing Jones of illegally diverting and hiding millions of dollars, which he denies.
Source:
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