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Topics: US News
Jess Hardiman
Alex Jones’ InfoWars website has filed for bankruptcy after multiple defamation suits relating to the Sandy Hook massacre.
Jones, an outspoken conspiracy theorist and supporter of Donald Trump, had falsely claimed that the 2012 school massacre was a ‘giant hoax’, saying it had been orchestrated by the government and mainstream media in an attempt to enforce stricter laws on guns.
Last November, the InfoWars founder was found guilty in all four of the defamation cases filed by the families of the victims, who said they had been subjected to years of harassment after Jones’ claims – which he had also profited from.
Now his far-right website – and two of Jones’ other companies, IWHealth and Prison Planet TV – have filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which puts a hold on all civil litigation matters, allowing a business to prepare turnaround plans while remaining operational.
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According to court documents, filed in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Sunday 17 April, InfoWars has listed its estimated assets in the range of $0-$50,000 and estimated liabilities in the range of $1 million to $10 million.
A total of 26 people - including 20 school children - lost their lives as a result of the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza opened fire at the school.
In the wake of the incident, Jones claimed that the tragedy was ‘completely fake with actors’ and a ‘giant hoax’, but later found himself at the centre of multiple defamation cases, with victim’s families arguing that they had not only be subjected to harassment, but also that Jones had made money from spreading his baseless conspiracy theories through Infowars.
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Jones was later found liable for damages, with Judge Maya Guerra Gamble saying: "The court finds that defendants’ failure to comply… is greatly aggravated by consistent pattern of discovery abuse throughout similar cases pending before this court.
The court finds that defendants’ discovery conduct in this case is the result of flagrant bad faith and callous disregard for the responsibilities of discovery under the rule."
Jones offered to pay $120,000 to each of the 13 plaintiffs to settle the case. However, they rejected the settlement offer and reopened the case. The plaintiffs said in a statement: “The so-called offer is a transparent and desperate attempt by Alex Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful, profit-driven campaign against the plaintiffs and the memory of their loved ones lost at Sandy Hook."