By Regan Jarvis, Features Editor
In one corner of the ring stands notorious conspiracy theorist and radio show host, Alex Jones. His opponents? The bereaved families of the victims of a tragic mass murder. After filing three separate defamation lawsuits and enduring four years of litigation, the families have secured over one billion dollars in judgments against Jones.[1] However, several bankruptcies of shell corporations owned by Jones,[2] as well as an appeal of the damages leave the grieving families wondering how long they will have to wait for justice.[3]
Only days before Christmas of 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza entered a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school and shot and killed 20 children and six adults before committing suicide.[4] As the story of the horror at Sandy Hook Elementary School unfolded in the news, it was not long before it was picked up by Infowars, a conspiracy theory website owned by Jones.[5] Infowars and Jones have been heavily criticized for perpetuating dangerous conspiracies, including claims that certain mass shootings were “staged false flag operations,”[6] as well as QAnon conspiracies such as “Pizzagate.”[7] In fact, Jones’s rhetoric is believed to have partially fueled the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, as he broadcast a video that morning claiming that the insurrection was “the most important call to action on domestic soil since Paul Revere and his ride in 1776.”[8]
In April 2013, four months after the Sandy Hook shooting, Jones claimed that the elementary school massacre was a “government operation” with “inside job written all over it,” on an Infowars’ broadcast.[9] This statement was one of at least a dozen in which Jones and other Infowars contributors made false allegations about incidents surrounding the shooting.[10] For example, in July 2015, Infowars published an article titled, “MEGA MASSIVE COVER UP: RETIRED FBI AGENT INVESTIGATES SANDY HOOK.”[11] Additionally, on April 22, 2017, Jones broadcast a video titled “Sandy Hook Vampires Exposed” in which he claimed the parents of Sandy Hook victims were paid actors and accused them of fraud.[12]
As a result of the misinformation spread by Jones and Infowars, family members of the victims began receiving death threats from angry fans of Infowars.[13] In 2017, 57-year-old Lucy Richards, an Infowars listener, was sentenced to five months in prison after sending threatening messages to Lenny Pozner, the father of a six-year-old Sandy Hook victim.[14] Other victims’ family members endured years of threats and harassment because of the defamatory content broadcasted on Infowars as well.[15]
On April 16, 2018, three parents of Sandy Hook victims filed suit against Defendants Jones, Infowars, and Free Speech Systems, LLC, in Travis County, Texas claiming defamation per se and conspiracy.[16] Free Speech Systems, LLC is the parent company of Infowars.[17] Subsequently, another 13 family members of Sandy Hook victims, in addition to an FBI agent, filed a second lawsuit against Jones in Connecticut on May 23, 2018.[18] Finally, another Sandy Hook parent filed a third lawsuit against Jones in Texas state court.[19]
Amid the storm of lawsuits, Jones continuously failed to comply with court orders, resulting in two separate default judgments, one in Connecticut and one in Texas.[20] In response to the findings of liability, five of Jones’s shell corporations filed for bankruptcy in Texas and one other entity filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut.[21] Jones’s Texas bankruptcy case was dismissed in April 2022, after Sandy Hook parents intervened with claims that the bankruptcies were a stalling tactic.[22] After the dismissal of Jones’s Texas bankruptcy case, he faced a two-week trial to determine damages ending in a $49.3 million jury award.[23]
Jones eventually agreed to stand trial in Connecticut as well, despite the second outstanding bankruptcy case.[24] In October 2022, a jury awarded Sandy Hook families a shocking $965 million award.[25] Although Jones’s various business ventures were raking in over $50 million per year,[26] few believe that he has assets to satisfy the defamation judgments.[27] However, he has yet to file for individual bankruptcy.[28]
Even more recently, on November 10, 2022, Jones was ordered to pay another $473 million, bringing the grand total to $1.44 billion in compensatory and punitive damages.[29] As the 10th anniversary approaches, the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School remains one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history.[30] However, with predictions of appeals by Jones, it seems that the victims’ families are still far from peace.
[1] https://apnews.com/article/alex-jones-connecticut-lawsuits-shootings-school-c4cd4f3f1aa69a73659b639a6f8df521
[2] https://www.reuters.com/legal/legal-fallout-alex-jones-false-sandy-hook-claims-2022-09-13/
[3] https://apnews.com/article/alex-jones-connecticut-lawsuits-shootings-school-c4cd4f3f1aa69a73659b639a6f8df521
[4] https://www.britannica.com/event/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting
[5] https://www.infowars.com
[6] https://web.archive.org/web/20180228180142/http://fortune.com/2018/02/24/youtube-pulls-alex-jones-infowars-video/
[7] https://web.archive.org/web/20171229080432/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/26/521545788/conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-apologizes-for-promoting-pizzagate
[8] https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/28/alex-jones-sandy-hook-january-6/
[9] https://www.reuters.com/legal/legal-fallout-alex-jones-false-sandy-hook-claims-2022-09-13/
[10] Id.
[11] https://infowarslawsuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/april-16-2018-pozner-original-petition-file-stamped.pdf
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] https://time.com/4810828/sandy-hook-shooting-lucy-richards-threats/
[15] https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/jury-alex-jones-defamation-case-begin-deliberations-punitive-damages-2022-08-05/
[16] https://infowarslawsuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/april-16-2018-pozner-original-petition-file-stamped.pdf
[17] https://www.reuters.com/legal/legal-fallout-alex-jones-false-sandy-hook-claims-2022-09-13/
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
[22] https://www.reuters.com/legal/legal-fallout-alex-jones-false-sandy-hook-claims-2022-09-13/
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/alex-jones-1-billion-verdict-puts-focus-on-bankruptcy-mediation
[26] https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/28/alex-jones-sandy-hook-january-6/
[27] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/alex-jones-1-billion-verdict-puts-focus-on-bankruptcy-mediation
[28] https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/28/alex-jones-sandy-hook-january-6/
[29] https://www.wbaltv.com/article/alex-jones-to-sandy-hook-school-shooting-lies-judge-order/41926014#
[30] https://www.britannica.com/event/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting
