WASHINGTON — Alex Jones, the far-right Infowars broadcaster and an ally of former President Donald J. Trump, has spent 25 years reaping millions of dollars fueling suspicion and opposition to what he calls the federal “deep state.” With his conspiracy empire under threat, Mr. Jones seeks government help.
Faced with monetary damages for defaming the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, Mr. Jones last week filed emergency relief with the federal bankruptcy court, a move that an observer of the Justice Department’s bankruptcy unit, Kevin Epstein, possibly called “abuse of the bankruptcy system.” †
In an appeal filed with Judge Christopher Lopez, Mr. Epstein said the motion appeared to be an attempt by Mr. Jones to delay the damages lawsuits and force the families into a settlement dictated by him while taking control of his company. loved. He added that approval of Mr Jones’s plan carried the risk of “deliberately stacking the pile against the most vulnerable creditors”.
Days later, Mr. Jones reached out to the Department of Justice to share what he knows about the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot in exchange for immunity from prosecution. An immunity deal seems unlikely, said two people familiar with Mr Jones’s offer.
Mr. Jones’ maneuvers stem from the growing recognition by some far-right conspiracy theorists that pushing the boundaries of legal public discourse has the potential to have serious personal consequences. More than 200 of the approximately 800 people arrested after the January 6 riots have pleaded guilty to the charges. Ali Alexander, a “Stop the Steal” organizer working with Mr. Jones marched to the Capitol after Mr. Trump on Jan. 6, received a grand jury subpoena and is cooperating with the Justice Department’s investigation.
Mr. Jones portrays himself as a fearless truth-teller, defending the First Amendment against government attempts to silence him. But his responses to the Jan. 6 investigation and the Sandy Hook lawsuits suggest he is primarily interested in protecting his livelihood. Sued for defamation by the families of 10 Sandy Hook victims, Mr. Jones lost the cases last year and has worked to protect his fortune from damages to come.
Even as he described his offer to cooperate, Mr Jones unleashed a barrage of false claims against the government. “My God!” he said on his show last week. “The FBI and Justice Department fingerprints are all over this damn thing, and you want to come and ask me? If you want to know what really happened, look in the damn mirror and you can tell me!”
Mr. Jones, who broadcasts his conspiracy theories alongside ads featuring nutritional supplements, doomsday gear, videos and other goods aimed at his listeners’ distrust of the government, made $56 million in revenue in 2021, one of his attorneys estimated last year. week.
After the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting that killed 20 freshmen and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. were killed, Mr. Jones increased traffic to his Infowars Store while broadcasting lies that the massacre was a staged government pretext for draconian gun control and that the families were “actors” in the plot. In 2018, the families of 10 Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent involved in the false claims sued Mr. Jones for defamation in four separate lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas.
During four years of litigation, Mr. Jones has accumulated more than $1 million in legal penalties for exceeding court terms, evading court orders for documents and testimony, and submitting company information that was inaccurate or fabricated. At the end of 2021, the judges ruled in every trial that Mr Jones was liable by default, an overwhelming victory for the families. Juries will then decide how many Mr. Jones has to pay damages in lawsuits due to begin this week.
This month, attorneys for the Texas families filed a separate lawsuit alleging that while the lawsuits were pending, Mr. Jones “conspired to divert his assets into empty companies owned by insiders such as his parents, his children and himself”, while claiming heavy financial losses. † The lawsuit accuses Mr. Jones of pulling $18 million from Infowars between 2018 and 2021, plus his $600,000 annual salary, and funneling $54 million into shell companies. †
That process continues. Jones’ attorney, Norm Pattis, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Aftermath of Capitol Riot: Key Developments
Then, on April 18, a week before the jury was due to decide damages, Mr. Jones filed for bankruptcy. The Justice Department’s bankruptcy monitor quickly filed an appeal, saying the filing appeared to be an attempt to delay the jury trial.
This view is reinforced by the fact that Mr. Jones has not filed for bankruptcy himself, although he generates and controls all of Infowars’ revenue, and is the main defendant in the Sandy Hook lawsuits. Instead, the bankruptcy filing was for three Infowars offshoots with no income, assets or employees.
Mark Schwartz, an accountant and Infowars’ proposed restructuring officer, justified that move last week by saying a bankruptcy of Mr. Jones “would ruin his name and hurt his ability to sell merchandise.”
Mr. Jones wants the bankruptcy court to approve a $10 million settlement fund, to be distributed among the plaintiffs in several lawsuits against him. The implied offer to the Sandy Hook families was to take their shot at a four-year lawsuit, or settle for a fraction of the estimated half a billion dollars that Mr. Jones and his disinformation empire have earned since the murders. on their loved ones.
The families want to see Mr. Jones answer in court.
On Wednesday, they filed a motion to reject his bankruptcy filing. “These bankruptcy cases were filed to improperly delay these lawsuits” and “attempts to liquidate plaintiffs’ claims in this room rather than by juries of their peers,” the motion said, adding: “They have not a valid bankruptcy purpose and they should be dismissed with prejudice as bad faith filings.”
Judge Lopez has scheduled a status conference on the bankruptcy filing Friday.
Katie Benner reporting contributed. Kitty Bennett research contributed.
