HOUSTON — A federal judge in Houston ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ′ personal assets but dismissed his company’s separate bankruptcy case Friday, leaving the future of his Infowars media platform uncertain.
The personal assets will be sold to help pay the $1.5 billion debt he owes for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
Many of the Sandy Hook families had asked that Infowars' parent company, Austin, Austin-based Free Speech Systems that Jones built into a multimillion-dollar empire, also be liquidated.
One scenario could be that the company and Infowars are allowed to keep operating while efforts to collect on the $1.5 billion debt are made in state courts in Texas and Connecticut, where the families won lawsuits against Jones, according to lawyers involved with the case.
Another scenario is that lawyers for the Sandy Hook families go back to the bankruptcy court and ask Lopez to liquidate the company as part of Jones’ personal case, because Jones owns the business, lawyers said.
"I just want to move forward to maximize its profits so I can pay the creditors," Jones said after the ruling. "I don't care about the money, I care about being on the air."
Judge Christopher Lopez said his sole focus in determining whether to dismiss Free Speech Systems’ case or order a liquidation was what would be best for the company and its creditors, including the Sandy Hook families. Lopez also said Free Speech Systems’ case appeared to be one of the longest-running of its kind in the country, and it was approaching a deadline to resolve it.
“I was never asked today to make a decision to shut down a show or not. That was never going to happen today one way or another,” Lopez said. “This case is one of the more difficult cases I’ve had. When you look at it, I think creditors are better served in pursuing their state court rights.”
Below are updates from KHOU 11's Victor Jacobo, who is in the courtroom, and the Associated Press.
3:20 P.M. Closing arguments underway
3 P.M. - Testimony Friday afternoon focused on whether Infowars' parent company, Texas-based Free Speech Systems, also should be liquidated.
A liquidation of Free Speech Systems would mean Jones loses control of the company and its assets would be sold off. He would lose the Infowars studios in Austin and its equipment, the company’s social media accounts, and all copyrights. A bankruptcy trustee would oversee the company and liquidation. The Sandy Hook families also want Jones to lose his personal social media accounts, but he opposes that. Some of Jones’ supporters, including former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone, have suggested they might try to buy Infowars.
Jones did not seem to react earlier when the judge ruled on his personal assets, but he became more animated when discussion turned to the possible liquidation of Free Speech Systems. At times he mumbled under his breath or shook his head when attorneys for some of the Sandy Hook families discussed statements Jones made on his Infowars show this week.
Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the families in the Connecticut case, said liquidating Free Speech Systems would “enable the Connecticut families to enforce their $1.4 billion in judgments now and into the future while also depriving Jones of the ability to inflict mass harm as he has done for some 25 years.”
2:45 P.M. - Alex Jones is back in the courtroom, but his hearing hasn't started back up again yet.
11 A.M. - A federal judge ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ′ personal assets and was still deciding on his company’s separate bankruptcy case. Many of Jones’ personal assets will be sold off, but his primary home in the Austin area and some other belongings are exempt from bankruptcy liquidation.
He already has moved to sell his Texas ranch worth about $2.8 million, a gun collection and other assets to pay debts. still set to rule on whether Jones’ company, Austin, Texas-based Free Speech Systems, also should be liquidated.
Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, according to the most recent financial filings in court.
It wasn’t immediately clear what would happen to Free Speech Systems, which is Infowars’ parent company.
When the hearing started, Jones' attorney, Vickie Driver addressed the judge saying: "Thank you, judge, it's been a long time coming to today." "The only issue is the form of order" to allow bankruptcy to go from Chapter 11 to 7, Driver added.
Jones was sitting on the left-hand side, looking towards the judge, in the front row during the hearing.
10 AM - Our Victor Jacobo reports that the judge has entered the room and the court is now in session. The room is full with every seat in the gallery taken.
9:30 A.M. - Jones talked to the media before the hearing. He called this whole case a fraud, claiming it’s not about money, it’s about silencing him.
"This may be the end of Infowars in the next hours or days or weeks. But it's just the beginning of my fight against tyranny," Jones said.
Attorneys representing the families of the Sandy Hook victims declined to speak before the hearing.
The relatives have said they were traumatized by Jones’ comments and his followers' actions. They have testified about being harassed and threatened by Jones’ believers, some of whom confronted the grieving families in person saying the shooting never happened and their children never existed. One parent said someone threatened to dig up his dead son's grave.
Although Jones has since acknowledged that the Sandy Hook shooting happened, he has been saying on his recent shows that Democrats and the “deep state” are conspiring to shut down his companies and take away his free speech rights.
9:05 AM - The official docket was just posted for the bankruptcy court hearing for Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems.
8:16 AM - This morning, a bankruptcy court will consider moving ahead with ordering Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems (the parent company of Infowars) to liquidate assets to start payment to families of the Sandy Hook massacre.