Ian Patrick, FISM News
Infowars, the business formed by political commentator Alex Jones, has recently filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in a bankruptcy court.
During his Monday program, Jones claimed that neither he nor Infowars are technically filing for bankruptcy. He alleged the reason they filed for Chapter 11 is to have a federal court look at his monetary situation to disprove claims against him and his business of hiding assets.
“We have less than $3 million dollars cash, and we need that money to buy future product to operate,” Jones said in his show, adding “I’m essentially making no money.” He then said the point of his business was not for him to make money but to continue operating as an independent media organization.
He further defined his bankruptcy reading from a document on his on-air show, saying it was to “pay all of [his] creditors in full.”
The bankruptcy for my affiliate companies is designed to pay all of my creditors in full. Alex Jones, yours truly, gave up all rights to his membership interest in the debtor’s bankruptcy to a trust created to hold that interest in backstop claimants and claims.
The creditors that Jones references are some of the family members of the children and staff killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut. These families sued Jones in Austin and Connecticut courts for defamation after he claimed that the shooting was faked by the government to try and assert more gun control laws. They also claimed in these lawsuits that Jones profited from his assertions.
In November of last year FISM News reported that Jones was found liable in the Connecticut lawsuit, following similar rulings for the three Texas lawsuits.
According to infowarslawsuit.com, put together by the prosecutorial attorneys’ offices, the Texas decisions means that “the lawsuits will proceed to a trial to determine how much money Jones and his InfoWars media system must pay the parents for defamation and emotional distress.” The jury selection for the Texas court will begin next week and a similar hearing will be held in Connecticut later this year.
Amidst the proceedings in these cases, a separate lawsuit filed more recently against Jones by some of the Sandy Hook families accuses him and Infowars of hiding assets. The lawsuit claims that he “conspired to divert his assets to shell companies owned by insiders like his parents, his children, and himself,” according to reporting by Georgia CBS outlet 13 WMAZ.
Jones claimed in his bankruptcy filing that he paid $10 million in legal fees and stands at a negative net worth of $20 million.
“If we weren’t so maxed out, these legal battles would be a lot easier,” he said in his show before later asking his listeners to purchase merchandise or donate to the business.
The prosecutors in this case, however, have said that Jones made over $165 million between 2015 and 2018 from his Infowars online store alone.
Jones claimed that all of the lawsuits against him aren’t for money purposes, but to try and shut down his operation.
The individuals doing all this don’t want to get money. They want to get charging orders to just come and close the doors and shut down the warehouse and shut down the shopping cart and physically fire all these employees. That’s the stated, admitted goal.
The bankruptcy filing will put the civil lawsuits against Jones on hold as the business refigures its finances.