Photo: David J. Phillip Associated Press The host and owner of the far-right website Infowars, Alex Jones, speaks to the media as he arrives at the federal courthouse for a hearing before a bankruptcy judge, Friday, June 14, in Houston.
Agence France-Presse in Houston
Published at 17:13
- United States
A Texas judge on Friday approved the liquidation of the personal assets of American conspiracy figure Alex Jones, allowing him to begin paying $1.5 billion in compensation to families of victims of 'a shootout.
The presenter and owner of the far-right site Infowars lied about a 2012 shooting at the Sandy Hook school in Connecticut, saying it was just a staged incident. 60~/p>
His lies had gone viral, leading to the harassment of families of victims of the massacre, where 20 children and 6 adults died. Families, claiming to have received death or even rape threats from his supporters, took him to court and won their case.
But Alex Jones s was declared a personal bankrupt in 2022 and filed for bankruptcy at his Texas-based company, Free Speech Systems.
On Friday, the judge allowed Mr. Jones to transform his personal bankruptcy into pure and simple liquidation.
The ruling means that many of Mr. Jones' personal assets — including a Texas ranch worth about $2.8 million — could be sold to pay debts. His assets are estimated at approximately $9 million.
Other assets, such as his home in the Austin, Texas area, should also be exempt from the liquidation.
The judge did not, however, record the liquidation of his company, which should allow his site, Infowars, to continue its activity and Mr. Jones to continue to speak there.
A “great victory”, the website congratulated itself on Friday evening.
Before entering the courtroom Friday, Alex Jones denounced an “instrumentalization of the justice system,” adding that his case “is a test case for what is now being done to President Trump, Steve Bannon and others “, in reference to the recent conviction of these conservative figures.
Alex Jones has amassed a fortune by linking his conspiracy site to the sale of dietary supplements and other merchandise .
The presenter relayed, for example, information according to which the American government is feminizing men thanks to chemical pollutants and using these untruths to promote stimulants of testosterone.