San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Sandy Hook families weigh settlement deal from Infowars’ Jones
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has proposed a bankruptcy exit plan that offers to settle with Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims’ families by paying them at least $55 million over 10 years.
The amount represents at least $30 million less than what the families had proposed and is a fraction of the roughly $1.4 billion judges ruled they’re owed in defamation judgments against Jones related to his lies that the 2012 Newtown, Conn., school shooting was a hoax. Jones filed for bankruptcy protection a year ago, after the judgments.
Those who choose to settle with Jones would share in a pot of at least $5.5 million annually over 10 years, according to a Chapter 11 plan Jones filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas late Friday. The plan requires court approval.
Beyond that annual minimum, family members who settle could receive all the disposable income from Jones’ bankrupt Infowars parent company, Free Speech System LLC, plus half of his own income over five years, and then a quarter of his income for the next five years, according to his plan.
In exchange for settling with Jones, Sandy Hook victim families would receive faster payments but wouldn’t be able to continue to chase him down for the full worth of their litigation claims, according to the proposal.
“Unsecured creditors will receive a substantial distribution (and significantly more than they would receive in a chapter
7 liquidation),” the plan said.
Those who don’t settle wouldn’t be guaranteed a minimum amount but could go after Jones for claims that the court said he can’t have forgiven in bankruptcy. Jones’ plan also promises to pay higher priority creditors in
full.
“Today is the first time Jones has publicly shared his bankruptcy plan for being accountable for the harm he’s caused the Sandy Hook families,” said Avi Moshenberg, a McDowell Hetherington bankruptcy attorney representing a group of the
Sandy Hook families. “We’re carefully examining his plan for doing so and will share our views of it in due time.”
The plan contrasts with options laid out last month by victims’ families, which proposed that Jones wind down his bankruptcy by paying creditors at least $85 million over 10 years or by liquidating his assets. Jones’ bankruptcy lawyer has called the creditors’ proposal unrealistic.
The Sandy Hook families, along with an official committee of Jones’ creditors, argued in court papers that the bankruptcy case for the right-wing radio host should end by February.
The talk show host’s Chapter 11 exit proposal comes after Judge Christopher M. Lopez in October found that despite Jones’ bankruptcy, he’s still on the hook for about $1.1 billion of the $1.4 billion in debt he owes from Connecticut and Texas defamation judgments. The court hasn’t yet decided if the remaining $300 million could be wiped out in bankruptcy.
The court this month also gave Jones permission to sell off guns, jewelry and other personal items on his Infowars shows, with proceeds to go to an escrow to pay for legal fees related to his bankruptcy. Any leftovers post-bankruptcy would be used for creditor payments as part of a Chapter 11 plan, Jones has said.
Free Speech, the Infowars parent company, filed for Chapter 11 relief last year as well in response to the state defamation judgments against it.
Attorneys for Jones didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.