The media company of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, but according to his lawyer, this should not interfere with the Texas defamation damages trial, which is attempting to compel Jones to pay $150 million or more to the family of one of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims.
The first week of testimony in the trial in Austin, where Jones resides and Free Speech Systems is located, ended on Friday, and the trial is anticipated to end the following week. Late in the day, Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal made the bankruptcy petition public.
Reynal informed Judge Maya Guerra Gamble that the bankruptcy filing would not put an end to the litigation on behalf of the family suing Jones.
According to Reynal, the business wants “to put this portion of the voyage behind us so that we have some numbers” predetermined for damages.
The bankruptcy filing’s specifics weren’t immediately accessible.
It is not the first time that a bankruptcy filing coincides with legal action taken by the Sandy Hook families against Jones. A trial delay resulted from Jones’ firm Infowars and two more corporate entities filing for bankruptcy protection in April. The parent firm of Infowars is called Free Speech Systems.
Jones has previously been found guilty for defamation by courts in Texas and Connecticut for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook shooting as a hoax using actors intended to tighten gun laws. Jones did not comply with court demands to provide papers or reply to discovery requests, so judges in both states rendered default judgments against him without holding a trial.
In a statement Friday night, Christopher Mattei, an attorney representing the Sandy Hook family in the Connecticut lawsuit, blasted the bankruptcy filing.
“Just two days before jury selection is due to begin in Connecticut, Mr. Jones has once again fled like a coward to bankruptcy court in a transparent attempt to delay facing the families that he has spent years hurting,” Mattei said. “These families have an endless well of patience and remain determined to hold Mr. Jones accountable in a Connecticut court.”
The Austin trial will decide Jones’ punishment for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, who lost their 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, along with 20 other students and six teachers, in the nation’s bloodiest school massacre. They and other Sandy Hook families who are suing Jones argue that Jones’ repeated false statements that the shooting was a hoax or never happened caused years of harassment and threats against them.
Jones claimed in court records last year that he had a negative net worth of $20 million, but attorneys for Sandy Hook families have painted a different financial picture.
Court records show that Jones’ Infowars store, which sells nutritional supplements and survival gear, made more than $165 million between 2015 and 2018. Jones has also urged listeners on his Infowars program to donate money.