• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Judge rules Alex Jones must pay $1.1 billion to Sandy Hook victims despite being bankrupt

Home> News> US News

Published 19:15 20 Oct 2023 GMT+1

Judge rules Alex Jones must pay $1.1 billion to Sandy Hook victims despite being bankrupt

The founder of Infowars was ordered to pay out the mammoth compensation, despite having already declared himself to be bankrupt

Kit Roberts

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.

Advert

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.

Jones, who founded the far right right website Infowars, was found to have defamed families of people who died at the Sandy Hook massacre.

Alex Jones was ordered to pay $1.1 billion.
Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images

Judge Lopez made the ruling that the bankruptcy would not impact $1.1 billion of the original $1.5 billion award in Houston, Texas.

Advert

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'.

Advert

Jones is facing two more defamation cases which have yet to receive a final judgement.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

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.

Advert

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.

Featured Image Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images / Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images

Topics: News, US News, Crime, Gun Crime

Kit Roberts
Kit Roberts

Kit joined UNILAD in 2023 as a community journalist. They have previously worked for StokeonTrentLive, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Star.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

21 mins ago
an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • 21 mins ago

    Every piece of evidence found in Diddy's hotel room that give disturbing insight into 'freak offs'

    Jurors were shown images of Diddy's hotel room on the night of his arrest

    News
  • an hour ago

    Trump slammed for 'disgusting' comments when asked about Joe Biden's 'aggressive' cancer diagnosis

    The POTUS has made some insensitive comments about his former political rival

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    MrBeast hits back at allegations he’s been ‘sued’ after being accused of exploiting Mayan pyramids in video

    MrBeast has said it 'saddens' him to see people 'spreading lies'.

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Newly released photos from Diddy's hotel room on night of arrest reveal disturbing insight into 'freak offs'

    The shocking images were taken by law enforcement when the rapper was arrested

    News
  • Police deny 'serial killer' claims after 12th body found in New England in 4 months
  • 911 dispatcher's call is released after sheriff ‘fatally shot judge’ in courthouse chamber following ‘argument’
  • Autopsy of death row inmate reveals horrific details after execution allegedly 'botched' by firing squad
  • Alex Jones 'Sues Himself' To Try And Get Out Of Paying Sandy Hook Victims