Alex Jones' InfoWars, a website that is known for its far-right-leaning coverage and conspiracy theory news, has filed for bankruptcy following a swath of defamation lawsuits in the wake of one of Jones' most controversial conspiracy theories, involving the Sandy Hook school shooting.
Jones became a public enemy when he claimed that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, entirely fake and played out by actors. Following his allegations, his InfoWars podcast was soon removed from platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Spotify. Jones was also sued by six families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, as well as an FBI agent, for defamation in March 2018.
The families turned down Jones' request to settle the lawsuits with a $120,000 payout to each of the now-thirteen plaintiffs. In response to the proposed pay-out, the plaintiffs stated in court documents, "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."
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Now, jury selection commences next week in Austin, Texas, to determine just how much Jones should pay each of the victims' families, with another trial happening in Connecticut later this year too.
Lawyers for the Sandy Hook victims' families have stated that Jones has attempted to hide $18 million dollars in shell companies in order to avoid paying up. In the wake of the bankruptcy filing, one of the lawyers representing the Connecticut suit, Christopher Mattei, stated,
"Alex Jones is just delaying the inevitable: a public trial in which he will be held accountable for his profit-driven campaign of lies against the Sandy Hook families who have brought this lawsuit."
Jones announced his bankruptcy to his fans during a Monday episode stream, asking them to support him financially by buying an InfoWars product or donating.
We'll have to see how his bankruptcy protection affects the defamation lawsuits.