Alex Jones’ company Infowars and its assets are on track to go up for auction in November to help pay down the nearly $1.5 billion Jones owes to families of the Sandy Hook victims, about whom he peddled conspiracy theories for years.
At a hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said he will soon approve the order for Infowars’ intellectual property to go to auction on Nov. 13, including its websites, social media accounts, trademarks and copyrighted material, The Associated Press reported. The company’s other assets, including computers and studio equipment, are scheduled to go to auction on Dec. 10.
The auctions would mark the demise of Jones’ media platform after a legal saga that culminated in 2022 with the Sandy Hook families winning a total of nearly $1.5 billion in judgments against him in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas. Jones and Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection. Lopez liquidated Jones’ personal assets and dismissed Free Speech System’s bankruptcy case in June.
Jones was one of the most prominent conspiracy theorists spreading lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. For years, he accused the families of being actors and falsely claimed that the shooting, in which 20 children and six educators were killed, was a “hoax” as part of a plot to take away people’s guns. The victims’ families have said that Jones’ lies tormented them and led to a flood of harassment and threats that went on for years. Jones later testified that he believes the shooting was “100% real.”
It’s unlikely that proceeds from the two auctions will come anywhere close to the sum that Jones owes the Sandy Hook families. Still, Christopher Mattei, a lawyer representing the families in the Connecticut lawsuit, said the auctions would be “a significant step forward.”
“Alex Jones will no longer own or control the company he built,” Mattei said in a statement. “This brings the families closer to their goal of holding him accountable for the harm he has caused.”
Meanwhile, Jones has said he wants to continue to host talk shows on new platforms. As The Associated Press reported, he has also suggested that his supporters could purchase all of Infowars’ assets and thus allow him to continue his show with the company.