The conspiracy-mongering days of far-right advocate Alex Jones’ InfoWars website have apparently come to an end. Along with Jones’ companies IWHealth and Prison Planet TV, the site filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the southern district of Texas.
In a report aired on Sunday, April 17, Jones weighed his options regarding bankruptcy, given how much he has spent on legal costs following the Sandy Hook lawsuits. He claimed that his finances had taken a serious hit and asked admirers and supporters for contributions, encouraging them to buy collectible items from the InfoWars website.
In the documents submitted for the Chapter 11 filing, Jones claimed that the InfoWars entity had less than $50,000 in assets with liabilities of up to $10 million. Among the creditors listed in the filing were several relatives of the 26 victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting incident.
Ruling at a high cost
In November of last year, Connecticut judge Barbara Bellis ruled that Jones was liable for defamation since he claimed that the tragic school shooting was a hoax. The victims’ families have filed a collective suit against Jones for his conspiracy theories. He is now liable for damages.
Last year, Jones also claimed that his net worth was currently at negative $20 million, but this was immediately debunked by lawyers working on behalf of the Sandy Hook victims. In fact, court records revealed that Jones earned over $165 million from the sale of various items from InfoWars’ online store between 2015 and 2018.
How much has Jones spent so far?
Jones has already spent $10 million in legal costs resulting from the Sandy Hook lawsuits.
On March 31st, Jones announced that he would offer a sincere apology to the families of the Sandy Hook victims. Many of them were harassed by those who believed in InfoWars’ scathing declarations that the event was staged and little more than a ploy to campaign for stricter gun ownership regulations.
Jones also offered to pay $120,000 per complainant as a settlement but was immediately rebuffed by the plaintiffs. Judge Bellis also ordered Jones to pay between $25,000 and $50,000 on each day he attended the deposition.
Jones received a refund of $75,000 last week when he finally showed up for interrogation. Before that, Jones ignored two court orders demanding his attendance at depositions held in Texas where he was expected to testify. He claimed that his doctor prevented him from attending, citing an unspecified ailment.
Jones’ doctor has been exposed as another conspiracy theorist who claimed that COVID-19 was nothing but a self-serving fabrication crafted by the Center for Disease Control’s Dr. Anthony Fauci.
