Alex Jones Bankrupt

Infowars and other media assets backed by far-right radio host Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy after he was found liable for falsely claiming the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.

The Wall Street Journal reports Jones has ceded his far-right website and media company to outside administrators, who placed it and other business ventures he owns under chapter 11 protection to try to resolve the legal claims against him.

Chapter 11 filings generally put an automatic stop to pending civil lawsuits, allowing a breathing spell for corporate and individual defendants facing legal trouble the chance to negotiate a resolution.

The bankruptcy comes after Jones was held liable by default in Texas and Connecticut courts last year to families of the Sandy Hook victims in lawsuits alleging defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Neither court has issued a formal damages award against him or his businesses.

Jones and his lawyers have previously denied that he incited others to harass the victims’ families and characterized the lawsuits as a threat to his First-Amendment rights to free speech.

The Texas court was scheduled to select a jury later this month to calculate damages, court papers show. That risked dismantling Jones’ assets before the Connecticut plaintiffs or other creditors could collect, according to a declaration filed in bankruptcy court on Monday by the businesses’ proposed restructuring officer, W. Marc Schwartz.

Mr. Schwartz said the installation of “neutral management” at the businesses would preserve their value and ease a potential settlement, which is unlikely to be reached outside of a bankruptcy plan.

Jones and his businesses have spent $10 million in legal costs stemming from the Sandy Hook lawsuits, according to court papers. Mr. Jones had provided $725,000 to fund the administration of the chapter 11 case designed to create a settlement trust founded with another $2 million in cash, court papers say. Two retired bankruptcy judges have offered to helm the settlement trust and assume “full governance authority” over Infowars and the other assets.

Jones frequently uses his platform to tout discredited conspiracy theories, most notably saying that the Sandy Hook shooting didn’t happen or was staged by the government. In recent years, social-media companies like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. have banned him from their platforms.