InfoWars has filed for bankruptcy – and that’s no hoax.
The far-right website, which routinely promotes conspiracy theories, is among three media companies owned by provocateur Alex Jones that sought bankruptcy protection on Monday in a Texas court (IWHealth and Prison Planet TV were the other two). As part of the legal maneuvers, Jones ceded his interests in the business.
The bankruptcy filings came after two judges found Jones liable in defamation suits brought by families of children killed during the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. The New York Times explains:
Mr. Jones for years spread bogus theories that the shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., was part of a government-led plot to confiscate Americans’ firearms and that the victims’ families were actors in the scheme.
Because of the falsehoods, families of the victims have found themselves routinely accosted by those who believe those false claims. Among those are the parents of Noah Pozner, who have moved nearly 10 times since the shooting, and live in hiding.
The Sandy Hook families maintain that Mr. Jones profited from spreading lies about their relatives’ murders. Mr. Jones has disputed that, while for years failing to produce sufficient records to bolster his claims.
Reuters adds:
Sandy Hook families in late March rejected Jones’ offer to settle their defamation lawsuit and reopened the case. Jones had offered to pay $120,000 to each of the 13 plaintiffs to settle the case.
Each of the plaintiffs turned down the settlement offer in court documents, saying, “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.”
“A trial in Connecticut to determine the size of the damages has yet to take place. [Jones] was also found liable in similar proceedings in Texas,” reports Bloomberg.
Earlier this year, Huff Post revealed that InfoWars sold $165 million in merchandise during a three year period.
Bankruptcy protection allows Jones “a mechanism for the payment of the defamation claims against” him, explains The Wall Street Journal. According to court papers, Jones has already spent $10 million defending himself against the charges.
Jones was recently fined $75,000 for failing to show up to a deposition related to the case in Connecticut. The 48-year old, who famously described himself as a “performance artist,” claimed he was sick. The judge in the case ordered the money returned after he eventually appeared for the deposition.
