Alex Jones has conceded control of his Infowars media empire and agreed to a swift sale of his personal and business assets. The conspiracy theorist filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after the families of the Sandy Hook school massacre secured a $1.5 billion libel judgment against him for falsely claiming the shooting was a ‘hoax.’
Jones had offered the families $55 million over 10 years in an attempt to retain control of his assets, but he filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on Thursday after they declined the offer. This decision came five days after Jones became emotional during a four-hour ’emergency’ Infowars broadcast, alleging that federal agencies were trying to shut down his business.
Initially, Jones sought Chapter 11 protection for his bankrupt estate in two court cases involving his personal and business assets. This move could have resulted in a larger payment to the families of the 20 first-graders and six school staff who were killed in the 2012 Connecticut school shooting. However, the families feared this would allow him to continue broadcasting to his conspiracy-theorist audience and requested that federal Judge Christopher Lopez place Jones’ company, Free Speech Systems, into Chapter 7 liquidation.
Judge Lopez has yet to rule on the request, but Jones’s attorney in his personal bankruptcy case indicated that the situation was dire in a court filing on Wednesday. “With the anticipated conversion or dismissal of the Free Speech Systems case, he does not believe his own estate would continue to benefit by remaining in Chapter 11,” Jones’s lead bankruptcy attorney, Vickie Driver, told the court.