Facts: The massacre at Sandy Hook
In December 2012, a 20-year-old man forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and shot and killed 20 young children and 6 adults. The perpetrator then also murdered his mother before committing suicide.
The school massacre is one of the deadliest in US history.
The mass murder triggered intense social debate about the gun issue, mental health and entertainment violence.
For several years, Alex Jones spread false claims about the Sandy Hook incident through his website Infowars and in popular podcasts. Among other things, he claimed that the grieving families were hired actors with the aim of restricting gun rights in the United States.
During the autumn, he has been convicted in rounds of defamation in both Texas and Connecticut and ordered to pay the equivalent of more than 14 billion kroner – damages that will mostly go to the family members who suffered from his claims that the massacre never took place.
Admitted wrong
Parents and siblings of the victims testified during the trials about how they have been harassed for years by people who believed the lies that Jones spread on his platform. The harassment included threats of rape.
Jones has admitted that he was wrong about Sandy Hook, but also claimed that he suffered a violation of free speech and claimed that it is all a conspiracy created by the media and Democrats to silence him and put him out of business.
In mid-November, he said on his program that he laughed at the large amounts he was ordered to pay. His filing for bankruptcy protection now may mean that the victims’ families may have to wait longer to see the compensation money.
“Never Gonna Give Up”
Neither Alex Jones nor his attorneys have commented on the bankruptcy filing, but an attorney for the families of the victims criticized Jones in a written statement.
“The American legal system will hold Alex Jones accountable and we will never give up the fight to make the jury’s verdict a reality,” wrote attorney Chris Mattei, continuing:
“Like all the other cowardly acts Alex Jones has committed, this bankruptcy filing will not succeed. The system does not protect those who knowingly and wrongfully violate and attack others, as Jones did.”
According to the documents Jones’ lawyers filed on Friday in a so-called chapter 11 proceeding in Houston, he has assets between one and ten million dollars, and debts of one to ten billion dollars.
In July, he filed for bankruptcy protection for his company Free Speech Systems. According to those documents, Jones and his company have assets of more than $270 million, reports The Washington Post.