By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press
The trustee overseeing Infowars host Alex Jones’ personal bankruptcy case is accusing the far-right conspiracy theorist of trying to shield more than $5 million from creditors, including relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.
Three new lawsuits filed by the trustee on Friday alleging fraudulent asset transfers are the latest developments in Jones’ long-running bankruptcy case, which has been pending in federal court in Houston for more than two years. In financial statements filed in bankruptcy court last year, Jones listed his net worth at $8.4 million.
The Sandy Hook families won nearly $1.5 billion in judgments in 2022 in lawsuits filed in Connecticut and Texas accusing Jones of defamation and emotional distress for saying the school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators was a hoax. Victims’ relatives testified in court about being terrorized by Jones’ supporters.
Attempts to liquidate Jones’ Infowars broadcasting and product-selling platforms and give the proceeds to the families and other creditors have been hindered by a failed auction and legal wrangling. Jones, meanwhile, continues to appeal the Sandy Hook judgments.
Here’s what to know about the status of Jones’ bankruptcy case:
Trustee sues Jones alleging improper money and property transfers
The trustee, Christopher Murray, alleges that Jones tried to shield the money through a complex series of money and property transfers among family members, various trusts and limited liability companies. Other named defendants include Jones’ wife, Erika; his father, David Jones; and companies and trusts.
Murray alleges that a trust run by Jones and his father fraudulently transferred nearly $1.5 million to various other Jones-associated entities in the months leading up to the bankruptcy. Jones is also accused of fraudulently transferring $1.5 million to his wife, more than $800,000 in cash and property to his father and trying to hide ownership of two condominiums in Austin, Texas, with a combined value of more than $1.5 million.
Murray is trying to recoup that money and property for creditors.
Jones’ bankruptcy lawyers did not return email messages seeking comment.
In an email to The Associated Press, Erika Wulff Jones called the lawsuits “pure harassment” and said she already had sat for a deposition. She said “the accounting has been done,” but did not elaborate.
A lawyer for David Jones did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Jones railed against the new allegations on his show on Saturday. He has repeatedly said Democratic activists and the Justice Department are behind the Sandy Hook defamation lawsuits and bankruptcy proceedings, and claimed they were now “trying to get” to him by suing his father, who he says is seriously ill.
The fraud allegations are similar to those in a lawsuit in a Texas state court filed by Sandy Hook families. Jones also denied those claims. That lawsuit was put on hold because of the bankruptcy.
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Sandy Hook families still haven’t received money from Jones
Jones says the fact that the Sandy Hook families haven’t received any money from him yet should be expected because he is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments.
Infowars’ assets continue to be tied up in the legal processes. Those assets, and some of Jones’ personal assets, are being held by Murray for eventual distribution to creditors.
An effort to sell Infowars’ assets was derailed when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez rejected the results of a November auction in which The Onion satirical news outlet was named the winning bidder over only one other proposal by a company affiliated with Jones. The Onion had planned to turn the Infowars platforms into parody sites.
Lopez had several concerns about the auction, including a lack of transparency and murky details about the actual value of The Onion’s bid and whether it was better than the other offer. The judge rejected holding another auction and said the families could pursue liquidation of Jones’ assets in the state courts where the defamation judgments were awarded.
In a financial statement last year, Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, listed $18 million in assets, including merchandise and studio equipment.
What’s next
Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families said they will soon move their effort to sell Infowars’ assets to a Texas state court in Austin, where they expect a receiver to be appointed to take possession of the platform’s possessions and sell them to provide money to creditors. A court schedule has not been set.
“The families we represent are as determined as ever to enforce the jury’s verdict, and he will never outrun it,” Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families in the Connecticut lawsuit, said Tuesday.
Jones’ appeals, meanwhile, continue in the courts. He said he plans to appeal the Connecticut lawsuit judgment to the U.S. Supreme Court, after the Connecticut Supreme Court declined to hear his challenge. A lower state appeals court upheld all but $150 million of the original $1.4 billion judgment. The $49 million judgment in the Texas lawsuit is before a state appeals court.
He said in 2022 that he believes the shootings were “100% real.”
Because Infowars’ assets are still tied up in the courts, Jones has been allowed to continue broadcasting his shows and hawking merchandise from Infowars’ Austin studio.
