Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars media empire will be shut down and sold off, a bankruptcy court-appointed trustee said in an emergency court filing Sunday, signalling the end of the notorious far-right outlet that Jones has used to spread dangerous misinformation and lies.
Earlier this month, a bankruptcy judge ruled that Jones’ personal assets would be liquidated to help pay off the nearly $1.5 billion he owes the families of victims of the Sandy Hook massacre. But at that time, the judge ruled Jones’ media company Free Speech Systems, the parent of Infowars, would not be liquidated partly because the process would be costly and lengthy.
The dismissal of the bankruptcy case against the outlet meant that the families were free to go after Jones’ assets, including Infowars, in state court. Since Jones is the owner of Free Speech Systems, a court appointed trustee was put in charge of the company.
The trustee wrote on Sunday that since being appointed, he “began planning to wind-up (Free Speech Systems’) operations and liquidate its inventory.”
But the trustee said the process was “derailed” when one of the Sandy Hook victim’s parents filed a motion in a Texas District Court to be granted custody of all of Free Speech Systems’ assets, including Infowars.
As a result, Jones’ trustee asked the bankruptcy judge for an emergency stay in the case to allow them to conduct an “orderly wind-down and sale process” of Infowars.
In a statement, Christopher Mattei, an attorney for Sandy Hook families from Connecticut who were in favor of liquidating the company, said “this is precisely the unfortunate situation that the Connecticut families hoped to avoid when we argued that the Free Speech Systems/InfoWars case should have remained with the bankruptcy court rather than being dismissed.”
“The Connecticut families are disappointed by this attempt to undercut the orderly and long overdue wind down of Alex Jones’ InfoWars platform,” Mattei said, referring to the attempt by one set of parents to go after FSS assets. “From the beginning, they have led with dignity toward a resolution that is fair for every family and are grateful that the Chapter 7 Trustee has already filed a motion – with which eight of the nine families agree – supporting an equitable distribution of the FSS assets.”
Jones, who had earlier this month celebrated the judge’s ruling not to liquidate Infowars’ parent company, has acknowledged Infowars would likely only continue broadcasting for a few more months.
“I’m going to try to move forward and maximize the amount of money we can make at Infowars to then have a wind-down,” Jones said outside the courthouse after the hearing dismissing his company’s liquidation.