Alex Jones, who owes nearly $1.5 billion in damages for spreading lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, has been offered a deal to settle with the victims’ families for a far smaller, but still considerable, sum of money.
Citing court documents, The Associated Press reported that lawyers for the families proposed two options to the Infowars founder in his bankruptcy case last week: Settle his exorbitant debt for a total of at least $85 million — roughly 6% of what he owes the families — over 10 years, as well as 50% of any income above $9 million per year, or liquidate his estate and hand over the money from that to creditors.
At civil trials last year in Connecticut and Texas, Jones was found liable for repeatedly claiming that the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 young children and six adults were killed by a gunman, was a hoax perpetrated to restrict gun rights. Jones accused victims’ parents of being “crisis actors,” and many of the parents said they lived in a state of fear and grief for years because of the conspiracy theories he promoted.
Jones accused victims’ parents of being “crisis actors,” and many of the parents said they lived in a state of fear and grief for years because of the conspiracy theories he promoted.
Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, and Jones both filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
According to the AP, a lawyer for the Infowars founder suggested during a Houston court hearing in Jones’ personal bankruptcy case that an $85 million settlement over 10 years was still too much and that it was unrealistic for Jones to pay. His attorneys had not responded to the offer as of Monday, but they told the judge earlier that they were working on a plan of their own to get him out of bankruptcy, reported The News–Times of Danbury, Connecticut. CNN recently reported that Jones was shelling out thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment, housekeeping and groceries — while Sandy Hook families had yet to receive any money. But that did not stop him from pleading for donations on his Infowars show. “If anything, I like to go to nice restaurants; that is my deal,” he said during a September show, according to CNN. “I like to go on a couple of nice vacations a year — but I think I’ve pretty much have earned that in this fight. I’m not complaining.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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