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A Texas choose dominated that Infowars host Alex Jones can’t use chapter safety to keep away from paying Sandy Hook bloodbath victims’ households greater than $1.1 billion for his conspiracy theories that the 2012 taking pictures was a hoax.
U.S. District Decide Christopher Lopez of Houston issued the ruling Thursday.
“The households are happy with the Court docket’s ruling that Jones’s malicious conduct will discover no protected harbor within the chapter court docket,” mentioned lawyer Christopher Mattei, who represents the households. “In consequence, Jones will proceed to be accountable for his actions into the longer term no matter his claimed chapter.”
Jones filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety final 12 months and, in accordance with more moderen monetary paperwork submitted by his attorneys, his private web value is at round $14 million. Lopez dominated that the chapter safety doesn’t apply over findings of “willful and malicious” conduct.
ALEX JONES CRITICIZED FOR SPENDING $93K IN JULY AS SANDY HOOK FAMILIES OWED $1.5B HAVE YET TO SEE A DIME
A Texas choose dominated that Infowars host Alex Jones can’t use chapter safety to keep away from paying Sandy Hook bloodbath victims’ households greater than $1.1 billion. (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman)
In a video posted to his Infowars web site, Jones mentioned the choose’s ruling can have little sensible impression as a result of he’s greater than $1 million in debt personally and lacks the funds to pay the Sandy Hook households and that he continues to enchantment the verdicts.
“It is all educational. I haven’t got one million {dollars},” Jones mentioned. “My firm has a number of million, however that is simply to pay the payments and my product sooner or later. So we are actually on empty. So this concept that … we will take your cash away doesn’t exist as a result of the cash would not exist. It is all political.”
“On the finish of the day, they will not take my free speech away,” he added. “I am nonetheless going to be on the air a technique or one other.”
Jones’ authorized troubles stem from false claims he made on his Infowars present concerning the deadliest college taking pictures in U.S. historical past at Sandy Hook Elementary College in Newtown, Connecticut, the place a gunman killed 26 individuals in December 2012. Jones has been asking his viewers to donate to him and store on the Infowars web site, so he can proceed his program and pay his authorized prices.
ALEX JONES ORDERED TO PAY $473 MILLION MORE IN DAMAGES TO SANDY HOOK VICTIMS’ FAMILIES BY CONNECTICUT JUDGE
The choose dominated that the chapter safety doesn’t apply over findings of “willful and malicious” conduct. (Drew Angerer)
In keeping with his month-to-month monetary reviews within the chapter case, Jones’ private spending surpassed $93,000 in July alone, together with hundreds of {dollars} on meals and leisure. The extreme spending upset the Sandy Hook households, who haven’t acquired any of the cash that juries decided they have been owed after suing Jones.
Final 12 months, Sandy Hook households received almost $1.5 billion in judgments in opposition to Jones in lawsuits over repeated claims of a false principle that the college taking pictures by no means occurred.
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Jones may find yourself owing the Sandy Hook households much more, as one other lawsuit introduced the dad and mom of one of many youngsters killed within the taking pictures is pending in Texas.
The victims’ households testified on the trials about how they have been harassed and threatened by Jones’ supporters. The households mentioned Jones’ believers despatched threats and even confronted them in particular person and accused them of being “disaster actors” whose youngsters by no means existed.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
