It wasn't long ago that talk show host and supplements salesman Alex Jones was considered the “Coca-Cola of the conspiracy theory community,” making as much as $76 million in 2019 on his syndicated Infowars internet merchandising platform. But since 2022 Jones has experienced a dramatic reversal of fortune. In a series of legal losses to Sandy Hook families he defamed, Jones filed three times for bankruptcy in seven months, owing $1.5 billion to the victims of his lies.
Jones at the end of 2023 is now at the point where he’s prepared to sell his collection of used guns and boats and SUVs to his Infowars fans to raise a few hundred thousand dollars to pay his legal expenses. The Sandy Hook families, who see the writing on the wall, have offered to settle with Jones for 6 percent of what he owes them. Jones has counter offered to pay the families at least $55 million over 10 years. What happened? Here is a timeline of Jones’ financial decline.
Alex Jones puts three shell companies he controls under bankruptcy protection, one week before the first jury trial was set to begin in Texas to determine how much in damages Jones had to pay the parents of a slain Sandy Hook boy Jones defamed. The bankruptcies delay the trial for three months. This comes after Jones’ battle with the Sandy Hook families he defamed in a separate Connecticut case had been in the national headlines, because Jones defied court orders to give pretrial depositions and then flew into Connecticut to answer questions under oath in Bridgeport. Also in March, Jones’ offer of $120,000 each to 19 people to settle the three Sandy Hook defamation suits was rejected.
Advertisement
April 22, 2022
Alex Jones’ lawyers reveal in bankruptcy court that Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection for his three shell companies, but not for himself, because Jones feared he would lose credibility with listeners of his Infowars broadcast and product sales would suffer. A Jones representative explained Jones’ name was the “Coca-Cola of the conspiracy theory community” and said Jones counts on his name brand to sell merchandise to his audience base — a business that brought in $76 million in 2019. Jones' lawyers also reveal “the impact of litigation” reduced Jones’ revenue by $20 million in 2021. At this point, Jones has already spent at least $10 million on legal fees.
May 20, 2022
A federal bankruptcy judge releases Alex Jones’ three shell companies from bankruptcy protection after Sandy Hook families remove the shell companies from their lawsuits, sending Jones back to state court in Texas, where a jury trial begins in July to determine how much Jones has to pay parents of a slain Sandy Hook boy Jones defamed.
July 29, 2022
Alex Jones puts his parent company Free Speech Systems under federal bankruptcy protection in Texas in the middle of a jury trial to determine how much Jones owes parents of a slain Sandy Hook boy he defamed. Chapter 11 papers show that Jones’ FSS had between $10 million and $50 million. A fiscal expert hired by the parents testifies at the trial that Jones is worth as much as $270 million. The parents in the Texas case are awarded $49 million in damages by the jury.
Advertisement
Oct. 12, 2022
A Connecticut jury awards eight Sandy Hook families and a federal agent defamed by Alex Jones a record $965 million in damages after a four week trial filled with headline-making drama. Jones, who called the 2012 massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors,” laughed on his Infowars program as the jury verdict was being live streamed, saying the families were trying to get "blood from a stone." Jones claimed to reporters outside the Waterbury courtroom during the trial that he owned a few homes and had a couple million dollars in the bank.
Nov. 10, 2022
State Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis, who oversaw the Connecticut trial, rules Alex Jones must pay an additional $473 million in punitive damages and attorney fees on top of the $965 million a jury ordered him to pay eight Sandy Hook families and an FBI agent he defamed. Jones responds on his Infowars broadcast, "If I sold everything I had, it’s $5 million (or) $4 million … that’s the camera equipment in here and everything."
Dec. 2, 2022
Alex Jones files for personal bankruptcy, his third Chapter 11 filing in seven months, and the most consequential one, seeking federal protection from $1.5 billion he owes Sandy Hook families he defamed. On a federal bankruptcy form, Jones says his personal assets are worth no more than $10 million.
Aug. 29, 2023
Six Sandy Hook parents Jones defamed who sit on an oversight panel in his personal bankruptcy case ask a judge to put Jones on a budget for his “egregious spending” at the same time that Jones himself asked the court for a 15 percent raise — or a $1.5 million salary. The parents rail against Jones “spending an aggregate of more than $740,000 in non-exempt assets — all in order to continue to enjoy his opulent, (pre-bankruptcy) lifestyle."
Sept. 23, 2023
The oversight panel of Sandy Hook parents that is second-guessing the spending of bankrupted Alex Jones shows how the table has turned against a conspiracy show host who for years publicly second-guessed the parents’ grief. The fact that Jones has to pay for the financial auditors hired by the parents who are scrutinizing and criticizing his financial life represents a reversal of fortune from just a few years ago, when Jones was accused of making millions by scrutinizing and criticizing the lives of family members who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook massacre. The parents note that in July, Jones had “incurred more than $93,000 in expenses” not including legal and professional fees.
Oct. 19, 2023
A bankruptcy judge rules Jones is on the hook for the $1 billion he owes to the Sandy Hook families he defamed, ruling Jones could not discharge the debt as he might otherwise be able to due under bankruptcy protection, because of Jones’ willful and malicious conduct. Bankruptcy filings show Jones’ estate is worth no more than $15 million.
Advertisement
Nov. 3, 2023
Alex Jones fights a bankruptcy judge’s ruling that he is on the hook for $1 billion he owes Sandy Hook families by arguing the old claim that Jones got a raw deal when he was defaulted for pretrial abuses and found liable for willful and malicious conduct. Jones’ attorneys have also appealed the jury trial defamation awards in Texas and Connecticut.
Nov. 17, 2023
Norm Pattis, the high profile New Haven attorney who represented Jones in his Connecticut trial, files an appeal argument likening the judge in the 2022 trial to a "conspiracy theorist" and suggesting that compassion for Sandy Hook families deprived Alex Jones of impartial treatment when a Waterbury jury ordered him to pay $965 million in damages.
Nov. 21, 2023
Sandy Hook families offer to settle with Jones for 6 percent of the $1.5 billion he owes them. The deal, which Jones had not responded to by mid-December, 2023, would give Jones “a complete discharge for himself and (his parent company FSS also in bankruptcy) if he agrees to pay, from any source, at least $8.5 million per year, plus 50 percent of any income over $9 million per year, for 10 years.”
Nov. 28, 2023
Alex Jones doesn't want to endorse Conspiracy Bourbon anymore, telling the bankruptcy judge he has different priorities now. Jones says he can no longer afford to honor business contracts that are “either of no value to the estate, are detrimental to the estate, or seeking to move forward with them would be more trouble than they are worth.” The judge agrees, allowing Jones to drop his contract with Conspiracy Bourbon and other entities.
Dec. 8, 2023
Alex Jones, who once claimed on his show that the Sandy Hook massacre was a government hoax to take people’s guns away, gets the bankruptcy judge’s permission to sell Jones’ used Remington rifles and Colt .45 pistols to raise badly needed money. The judge agrees to allow to Jones sell his personal collection of 49 used pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns, along with his boats, his SUVs and his watches to the highest bidder to pay “professional fees.” Jones’ guns and boats and SUVs are worth no more than a combined $450,000.
Dec. 15, 2023
The Connecticut Appellate Court upholds $75,000 in fines that Jones faced for missing a deposition before his Waterbury trial with 14 family members of Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who responded to the tragedy. The ruling comes the day after the 11th anniversary of massacre. Jones' attorney, Norm Pattis, says he'll likely appeal to the Connecticut Supreme Court.
Advertisement
Dec. 15, 2023
In response to the Sandy Hook families’ late November deal offer, Alex Jones counter offers a settlement to pay a minimum of $55 million over 10 years. Jones' experts forecast that he will make $19 million in product sales in 2024, with operating expenses of $14 million. Meanwhile the Sandy Hook families file their own plan calling for Jones to liquidate his estate.
Get a daily news briefing and subscriber-exclusive reporting.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Notice.
Credits
Reporting by Rob Ryser. Editing by Julia Perkins. Production by Derek Turner. Powered by the Hearst Newspapers DevHub.
Originally published on Dec. 20, 2023
©2024 Hearst