Kit Roberts
Far-right radio host Alex Jones must pay $1.1 billion in compensation to families of people who died in Sandy Hook, despite declaring himself bankrupt.
On Thursday (October 19) a judge ruled that Jones' declaration of bankruptcy did not have any bearing on amount he must pay, and ordered him to pay the $1.1 billion to the families for claiming the 2012 school shooting was a hoax.
Bankruptcy can sometimes be used to wipe out debts, but not if the debts have been caused by 'wilful or malicious injury' by the debtor, Texas judge Christopher Lopez ruled.
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Jones, who founded the far right right website Infowars, was found to have defamed families of people who died at the Sandy Hook massacre.
Judge Lopez made the ruling that the bankruptcy would not impact $1.1 billion of the original $1.5 billion award in Houston, Texas.
He ruled that part of the other verdicts, including a punitive award of $324 million in attorneys' fees, may be impacted by the bankruptcy.
This was because it wasn't entirely clear whether these awards could be attributed to 'wilful' or 'malicious' lies, or whether they should be attributed to 'reckless' conduct.
Lopez wrote that a further trial now needs to be carried out to resolve precisely how much of the original damages can be discharged.
Jones' attorneys argued in court that he had not lied intentionally, and had 'never said something on air that he did not believe to be true'.
In his defamatory remarks, Jones claimed for years that the killing of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 had been staged.
The Infowars founder claimed that this had been done with actors as part of a plot by the government to seize Americans' guns.
Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting did occur, but plaintiffs in the case claimed that he had made money for years off his lies about the tragedy.
Jones filed for bankruptcy in December last year, with his media company Free Speech Systems doing the same in July.
Despite the enormous order for $1.1 billion of compensation, it's possible the figure could still rise as two cases are yet to receive a final judgement.
Judge Lopez ruled on Thursday that Jones cannot escape the damages due to be awarded in one of those trials.