Jury Orders Alex Jones to Pay $965M in Damages

The families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims on Wednesday won nearly $1 billion in damages from the Infowars fabulist Alex Jones, a devastating blow against his empire and a message from the jury that his lies and those of his followers have crippling consequences, according to The NY Times.

Jones, who for years said the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., was a government hoax, now faces financial ruin. But it is unclear how much money the families will ultimately collect.

The families and their lawyers sat in stunned silence as the court clerk read one by one the sums awarded to each of 15 plaintiffs in the case. After court was adjourned, they hugged one another quietly, weeping.

The largest award went to Robbie Parker, who received $120 million. For years on his Infowars show and website, Mr. Jones singled out Mr. Parker, whose daughter Emilie died at Sandy Hook, as an actor whose televised tribute to Emilie a day after her death was “disgusting.”

In all likelihood Jones does not have the money to pay Wednesday’s award. In August a forensic economist estimated that Mr. Jones’s empire was worth a maximum of $270 million, but that same month Jones put his parent company, Free Speech Systems, into bankruptcy. Mr. Jones claimed that a debt of $54 million — owed to a company he controls — had made him insolvent.

But Jones’s annual revenues have topped $50 million in recent years from hawking diet supplements, survivalist gear and gun paraphernalia on his broadcasts. He has also used the Connecticut trial as well as a trial this past summer in Texas — in which he was ordered to pay two Sandy Hook parents about $50 million — to solicit donations to his legal fund and boost his product sales.

The Sandy Hook families have challenged the bankruptcy in court, saying the filing is an effort to avoid paying what are mounting damages awards.