Jones accused of hiding assets in defamation case

Sandy Hook victims’ families asked a federal bankruptcy court to order Infowars conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones to relinquish control over his company, saying he has “systematically transferred millions of dollars” to himself and his relatives while claiming to be broke.

In a filing last week in the bankruptcy court in Houston, the families of nine Sandy Hook victims said they sought to have a bankruptcy trustee who is already monitoring the case take control of Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Jones’ misinformation-peddling media outlet. The families are also seeking a court-appointed oversight committee to restrict Jones’ ability to control Infowars’ finances.

Jones’ claimed insolvency is at the heart of his efforts to avoid paying for the damage done by his Sandy Hook lies. Earlier this month, a Texas jury ordered him to pay the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting nearly $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages for spreading the falsehood that they helped stage the massacre.

“Alex Jones is not financially bankrupt; he is morally bankrupt, which is becoming more and more clear as we discover his plots to hide money and evade responsibility,” said Kyle Farrar, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families.

“We will be filing a response soon,” said R.J. Shannon, one of Jones’ lawyers in the bankruptcy matter. He declined to comment further.

The families said in their filing that Jones had siphoned nearly $62 million from his business into financial vehicles benefiting himself and his family beginning in 2018, when the Sandy Hook families first filed suit.

For years, Jones broadcast lies on his show that the shooting that killed 20 firstgraders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., was staged by the government as a pretext for gun control and that the victims’ families were “actors” in the plot.

Conspiracy theorists tormented the victims’ families online, defaced and stole memorials to their slain loved ones, confronted them on the street and threatened their lives.

In 2018, the families of 10 Sandy Hook victims filed four defamation lawsuits against Jones in Texas and Connecticut. Jones, an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump, is also under scrutiny for his role in organizing events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

Sergio Flores / Getty Images 2020 Infowars host Alex Jones speaks at a protest in 2020 in Austin, Texas. Families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims filed defamation lawsuits against Jones in Texas and Connecticut.