Judge orders liquidation of Alex Jones' assets to pay back Sandy Hook families, but stays out of Infowars

A federal bankruptcy judge in Texas on Friday rejected a bankruptcy proposal by Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, the website founded in 1990 by host Alex Jones.

The judge in the case, Chris Lopez, said that, in his opinion, denying Infowars' bankruptcy plan was in the best interest of creditors linking Jones to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in Connecticut.

This means that, at least for the moment, Infowars is not going to disappear or pass on to third parties, which Jones himself has been declaring publicly and on his website, where he asked his followers for support to maintain control of the medium.

According to the judge, the presenter will continue to maintain and be able to commercially exploit his media.

However, earlier, the judge approved the liquidation of Jones' personal assets, who must pay 1.5 billion dollars in damages to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, one of the worst massacres in U.S. history.

In 2012, Jones lied about the massacre, falsely claiming that the shooting was a hoax that used actors.

The Sandy Hook families argued in their 2022 defamation lawsuit that Jones' followers harassed them following the host's remarks, causing them trauma and emotional harm. From that moment on, Jones regretted his statements and acknowledged that the shooting was entirely real.

Some Sandy Hook families wanted to strip Jones of Infowars to prevent the radio host from having a platform.

But other families recognized that the best way to collect the large compensation was for the host to maintain the website by selling products to his followers and reaping the profits.

The judge's decision comes after Jones agreed last week to convert his personal bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation, which is a slightly more complex bankruptcy process that allows individuals or companies with insurmountable debts to liquidate their non-exempt assets to pay their creditors.

Jones, who attempted to use bankruptcy to protect his personal assets and his media platform Infowars, is worth $8.6 million in personal assets, including property, cars, boats and a gun collection. These assets will be liquidated to pay the families, according to Judge López's ruling.

According to CNN, the judge also said that an interim administrator will be appointed to oversee Jones' estate, as is typical in these cases.

Jones' attorney, Vickie Driver, told the Federal Court that $2.8 million from the sale of Jones' ranch could be sent to the trustee, the news network reported.