The court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Alex Jones’ estate plans to shut down his conspiracy site Infowars and sell off its assets, according to a new filing on Monday.
The trustee, Christopher Murray, filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court after the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre asked another court in Texas to turn over the assets of Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems. The parents, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, won a $50 million verdict against Jones in 2022 over his lies that the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which killed 20 children and six adults, was a hoax.
That verdict is separate from the $1.5 billion Jones owes to other family members of victims after a lawsuit in Connecticut.
A Texas judge approved the handover on Friday, but the trustee asked a federal court to step in and stop it, as it would interfere with his plans to “conduct an orderly wind-down” of Free Speech Systems and his plans to “liquidate its inventory.”
It’s the first time the trustee has said publicly he plans to shutter Infowars.
“The specter of a pell-mell seizure of FSS’s assets, including its cash, threatens to throw the business into chaos, potentially stopping it in its tracks, to the detriment of the interests of the chapter 7 estate for which the trustee is responsible,” Murray wrote in the emergency motion.
“The Trustee seeks this Court’s intervention to prevent a value-destructive money grab and allow an orderly process to take its course.”
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Families involved in the Connecticut judgment said they were frustrated by the complicated nature of the cases against Jones.
“The Connecticut families are disappointed by this attempt to undercut the orderly and long overdue wind down of Alex Jones’ InfoWars platform,” a lawyer for the group, Christopher Mattei, said in a statement to CNN. “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.”
Earlier this month, a federal judge approved the conversion of Jones’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy case to a liquidation in an effort to streamline the sale of his personal assets. The conspiracy theorist had filed for bankruptcy shortly after the $1.5 billion judgment. He is now appealing the judgments in state courts.
The Associated Press notes it’s unlikely families will receive anywhere near the full amount: Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, according to recent financial filings, and Free Speech Systems has about $6 million in cash on hand.
The judge in May allowed Jones to sell a large game ranch in Texas to help pay for his legal expenses. He is expected to keep his primary residence in Austin, Texas.
