Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is proposing to pay pennies on the dollar—just 4%—of the $1.4 billion owed to the Sandy Hook families who successfully sued him for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress after he repeatedly claimed the 2012 Newtown school massacre was a hoax using “crisis actors” to boost gun control legislation.
The proposal, filed Friday night in a Houston bankruptcy court, would have Jones pay $55 million over ten years. It came just a day after the 11th anniversary of the Connecticut mass shooting, which took the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators.
The families filed a competing payment plan in court, seeking to liquidate all of Jones’ assets and distribute them among the families. While Jones’ plan would allow him to be released of his debt after a decade, the family’s plan would not, effectively ensuring that Jones would have to continue to pay out parts of the judgment for the rest of his life.
Jones declared bankruptcy in late 2022, citing the extent of the damages, but a judge ruled in October that Jones couldn’t use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying families, and was still liable for $1.1 billion of the original punishment. Jones is still appealing the original judgment.
“Today is the first time Mr. Jones has publicly shared his plan to be accountable for the harm he’s caused these families,” Avi Moshenberg, a lawyer representing victims’ family members who sued Jones in Texas, told The New York Times. “We’re very focused on the families receiving what is fair, and will share our review of Jones’s plan in due time.”
Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut attorney representing the families, said Jones’ proposal “falls woefully short” of what his clients are entitled to under the law. “The families’ plan is the only feasible path for ensuring that Jones’ assets are quickly distributed to those he has harassed for more than a decade,” he said in a statement Saturday.
Jones spent years profiting off lies about the shooting while grieving families of the victims faced death threats as Infowars, Jones’ fake news company, raked in millions of dollars.
As the bankruptcy proceedings drag on, families have pointed to Jones’ opulent post-bankruptcy lifestyle, with reports showing the conspiracist spending $100,000 a month. In a filing in bankruptcy court last month, the families argued that Jones “has refused to adhere to a reasonable budget.”
A Texas judge is expected to hold hearings in late February to determine a final bankruptcy plan.
Last week, Elon Musk reinstated Jones’ account on Twitter, formerly X. In an appearance on an X livestream hosted by Musk, Jones continued to deny responsibility for the harassment and abuse experienced by the Sandy Hook families, insisting that he was just playing “devil’s advocate” in his comments on the shooting.
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