Alex Jones' Infowars to be auctioned off to pay Sandy Hook families
Alex Jones' Infowars media business can be auctioned off starting next month so the far-right conspiracy theorist can make payments to the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting as part of a $1.5 billion settlement, a Houston judge has ruled.
Infowars' assets, including its social media accounts, copyrighted material and trademarks owned by parent company Free Speech Systems, will be liquidated in November. Additional Infowars assets, including studio equipment, would be sold at a later auction.
In a court hearing Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said he would approve the sale, but that he must first change a previous order to make clear that the trustee overseeing Jones' personal bankruptcy case controls all of Free Speech Systems' assets.
Jones and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after losing defamation and emotional distress lawsuits by Sandy Hook families after he repeatedly called the Connecticut school shooting a hoax staged by "crisis actors." Adam Lanza killed 26 people, including 20 children, in the shooting, in Newtown, Connecticut.
The outcome of the Infowars auctions could determine Jones' broadcasting fate. He has vowed to continue hosting talk shows and could do so through a new website or his personal social media accounts, which are not part of the sale.
Anyone can bid for Infowars' assets under the terms of the sale, whether supporters or detractors.
"It's very cut and dry that the assets of Free Speech Systems, the website, the equipment, the shopping cart, all that, can be sold," Jones said recently on a show. "And they know full well that there are a bunch of patriot buyers, and then the operation can ease on."
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for Sandy Hook families, called the judge's auction order "a significant step forward" in holding Jones to account for his lies.
"Alex Jones will no longer own or control the company he built," Mattei said in a statement Tuesday. "This brings the families closer to their goal of holding him accountable for the harm he has caused."