Conspiracy theorist: US court approves liquidation of Alex Jones’ assets

In the USA, a court has approved the liquidation of a large part of the assets of the ultra-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

According to court documents, the judge at a bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas, allowed the personal bankruptcy proceedings of Jones, who was ordered to pay billions in damages, to be converted into liquidation in a ruling on Friday. It therefore remained unclear whether the company behind Jones’ right-wing website “Infowars” would also be dissolved.

The ruling means that Jones must sell, among other things, a ranch worth around $2.8 million (€2.6 million). However, assets such as Jones’ private home in the area around the Texas capital Austin are reportedly exempt from the liquidation. Overall, according to the latest court documents, Jones has private assets of around $9 million.

Jones, radio host and founder of “Infowars”, was sentenced in 2022 to pay damages totaling almost $1.5 billion (more than €1.4 billion) in several trials for making false claims about the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, which left 26 people dead. He owes the money, among others, to several parents whose children were killed in the massacre.

For years, Jones had claimed that the school massacre in the town of Newtown in the state of Connecticut had never happened. Rather, it had been faked in order to push through stricter gun laws.

Jones, who is very influential in right-wing extremist circles, has earned a lot of money and a large circle of followers by spreading conspiracy theories – and in particular by selling products such as nutritional supplements and protective vests. Jones is known as a supporter of former US President Donald Trump.

It was initially unclear after the verdict whether Jones’ company would be dissolved and he would lose control of it. Before the decision, Jones himself had told journalists that this would “probably mean the end of Infowars very, very soon.” But his “fight against tyranny” had only just begun. On Friday, the “Infowars” website said that this could be its “last broadcast.”