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| Alex Jones |
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has vowed to fight a nearly $1 billion defamation verdict against him, but experts say neither bankruptcy nor an appeal of a Connecticut jury’s findings on Wednesday are likely to salvage his personal fortune and media empire, reports Reuters.
A jury in Waterbury, Connecticut, state court found Jones and the parent company of his Infowars website must pay $965 million to numerous families of the 20 children and six staff members slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 for claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy as part of a government plot.
The verdict could grow substantially when a judge decides how much to award in punitive damages next month. It also comes three months after a Texas jury awarded two Sandy Hook parents $49.3 million in a similar case.
Jones has said he will fight the verdict on appeal and use the recent bankruptcy of his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, to avoid paying. It is unclear if he and his companies could ever pay the verdicts in full, but attorneys for the plaintiffs have vowed to prevent him from shielding any of his assets.
Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in July. The Sandy Hook families have intervened in the case and accused Jones of withdrawing up to $62 million from Free Speech Systems while burdening it with $54 million in "concocted" debt owed to a different company owned by Jones and his parents.
Bankruptcy courts have wide discretion to decide which creditors get paid first and are vigilant in cases where companies try to siphon out funds via debt held by shell entities, UConn School of Law professor Minor Myers said.
“No bankruptcy judge would allow Alex Jones and his dad to stand in line in front of the plaintiffs,” Myers said.
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