JUDGE: BANKRUPTCY CAN’T STOP JONES FROM PAYING
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 2012 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 shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. 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 effect because he is more than $1 million in debt personally and has little to pay the Sandy Hook families. He also said he continues to appeal the verdicts.
After the shooting, Jones made a false conspiracy theory a centerpiece of his programming on his flagship Infowars show. He has been urging his audience to donate to him and shop on the Infowars website so he can keep doing his program and pay his legal costs.
But Jones’ personal spending topped $93,000 in July alone, including thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment, according to his monthly financial reports in the bankruptcy case. The spending stuck a nerve with Sandy Hook families as they have yet to collect any of the money that juries awarded them.