June 14th 2024.
A decision was made by Judge Christopher Lopez on Friday regarding the case of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The judge ordered the liquidation of Jones' personal assets, but dismissed the bankruptcy case of his company, Free Speech Systems. This leaves the future of his media platform, Infowars, uncertain as Jones is facing a hefty $1.5 billion debt for his false claims about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Jones seemed to be in good spirits as the judge dismissed the case against his company. However, it is unclear what will happen to Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, which Jones has built into a successful business over the past 25 years. There are a few possible scenarios that could play out, according to lawyers involved in the case.
One possibility is that the company and Infowars will be allowed to continue operating while efforts are made to collect the debt in state courts in Texas and Connecticut. These are the states where the families of the Sandy Hook victims won lawsuits against Jones. Another scenario is that the lawyers for the families will go back to the bankruptcy court and request the liquidation of the company as part of Jones' personal bankruptcy case, as he is the owner of the business.
As for Jones' personal assets, many of them will be sold off, but his primary home and some other belongings are exempt from the bankruptcy liquidation. He has already made moves to sell his Texas ranch, worth $2.8 million, along with his gun collection and other assets, in order to pay off his debts.
Prior to the hearing, Jones had been informing his viewers and listeners that Free Speech Systems was on the verge of being shut down due to the bankruptcy. He urged them to download videos from his online archive and directed them to a new website if they wanted to continue purchasing the dietary supplements he sells on his show.
Jones expressed his thoughts on the situation to reporters, stating that he believed this could be the end of Infowars, but also saw it as the beginning of his fight against tyranny.
If Free Speech Systems' bankruptcy reorganization had been converted to a liquidation, Jones could have lost ownership of the company, its social media accounts, the Infowars studio, and all copyrights as the company's possessions were sold.
According to financial filings in court, Jones has approximately $9 million in personal assets. Free Speech Systems, which employs 44 people, has about $6 million in cash and $1.2 million worth of inventory, according to the chief restructuring officer appointed by the court.
Jones and Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022, after the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting won lawsuits against Jones in Connecticut and Texas, totaling over $1.4 billion.
A lawyer for the families in the Connecticut case, Chris Mattei, stated that liquidating Free Speech Systems would allow the families to enforce their judgments and prevent Jones from causing further harm, as he has been doing for the past 25 years. The families have testified about being harassed and threatened by Jones' followers, some of whom have even confronted them in person, claiming that the shooting never happened and their children never existed. One parent even received a threat to dig up their child's grave.
Initially, Jones and Free Speech Systems had filed for bankruptcy reorganization, which would have allowed Jones to continue running Infowars while paying off the families with the show's revenue. However, they were unable to come to an agreement on a plan, and Jones recently filed for permission to switch his personal bankruptcy from a reorganization to a liquidation.
The families involved in the Connecticut case have requested that Free Speech Systems' bankruptcy be converted to a liquidation as well, while the parents in the Texas case want the case to be dismissed. The company has indicated that they support liquidation, but Jones' personal bankruptcy attorneys want the case dismissed.
A lawyer for the families seeking liquidation expressed concern about dismissing the case, stating that it could lead to a "race to the courthouse" and result in one family receiving everything while another gets nothing. "I want a case converted to a Chapter 7 so that the assets that have been collected can be equitably distributed among creditors," he said.
Despite Jones' recent acknowledgement that the Sandy Hook shooting did occur, he has been claiming on his show that Democrats and the "deep state" are working together to shut down his companies and strip him of his freedom of speech. He has also stated that the families are being used as pawns in this conspiracy, which the families' lawyers have dismissed as nonsense.
The families also have a separate lawsuit in Texas, accusing Jones of illegally diverting and hiding millions of dollars. Jones has denied these allegations.
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