Home Care In Sandy Hook, CT

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Friday proposed a bankruptcy exit plan that offers to settle with Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims’ families by paying them at least $55 million over 10 years.

The amount represents at least $30 million less than what the families had proposed, and is a fraction of the roughly $1.4 billion judges ruled they’re owed in defamation judgments against Jones related to his lies that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. Jones filed for bankruptcy protection a year ago, after the judgments.

Those who choose to settle with Jones would share in a pot of at least $5.5 million annually over 10 years, according to a Chapter 11 plan Jones filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Friday. The plan requires court approval.

Beyond that annual minimum, family members who settle could receive all the disposable income from Jones’ bankrupt Infowars parent company, Free Speech System LLC, plus half of his own income over five years, and then a quarter of his income for the next five years, according to his plan.

In exchange for settling with Jones, Sandy Hook victim families would receive faster payments but wouldn’t be able to continue to chase him down after his plan for the full worth of their litigation claims, according to the proposal.

“Unsecured creditors will receive a substantial distribution (and significantly more than they would receive in a chapter 7 liquidation),” the plan said.

Those who don’t settle wouldn’t be guaranteed a minimum amount, but could go after Jones for claims that the court said he can’t forgive in bankruptcy. Jones’s plan also promises to pay higher priority creditors in full.

“Today is the first time Jones has publicly shared his bankruptcy plan for being accountable for the harm he’s caused the Sandy Hook Families,” said Avi Moshenberg, a McDowell Hetherington bankruptcy attorney representing a group of the Sandy Hook families. “We’re carefully examining his plan for doing so and will share our views of it in due time.”

The plan filed Friday contrasts with options laid out last month by victim families, which proposed that Jones wind down his bankruptcy by paying creditors at least $85 million over 10 years, or by liquidating his assets. Jones’ bankruptcy lawyer has called the creditors’ proposal unrealistic.

The Sandy Hook families, along with an official committee of Jones’ creditors, argued in court papers that the bankruptcy case for the right-wing radio host should end by February.

The talk show host’s Chapter 11 exit proposal comes after Judge Christopher M. Lopez in October found that despite Jones’ bankruptcy, he’s still on the hook for about $1.1 billion of the $1.4 billion in debt he owes from Connecticut and Texas defamation judgments. The court hasn’t yet decided if the remaining $300 million could be wiped out in bankruptcy.

The court this month also gave Jones permission to sell off guns, jewelry, and other personal items on his Infowars shows, with proceeds to go to an escrow to pay for legal fees related to his bankruptcy. Any leftovers post-bankruptcy would be used for creditor payments as part of a Chapter 11 plan, Jones has said.

Free Speech, the Infowars parent company, filed for Chapter 11 relief last year as well in response to the state defamation judgments against it.

Attorneys for Jones didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Jones is represented by Crowe & Dunlevy PC and Jordan & Ortiz PC. The unsecured creditors’ committee is represented by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

©2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

One of the many acts of kindness that came out of the Sandy Hook tragedy was Binky Patrol Southern Connecticut, started by Jeanne Malgioglio. She said the tragedy really hit close to home, as a teacher and a mom, living nearby in Monroe with young kids at the time.

“I was making a hat for my neighbor for a Christmas gift. And I'm like, I can't do this. So, my friend Dina and I got the idea of making scarves for the students at Sandy Hook,” said Malgioglio.

So together, they put out a call on Facebook for 600 scarves and ended up receiving 3,700 scarves, or beautiful handmade hugs as they call them.

The scarves came from Germany, Sweden, Scotland and all 50 states. It was a huge outpouring of love and support for the Newtown community as they went to students and staff at the school as well as first responders.

Once Malgioglio had that network in place of people knitting and crocheting here in Connecticut, along with the drop-off locations, she and the others involved felt the urge to continue the cause.

A teacher in Trumbull decided to make scarfs for the students at Sandy Hook Elementary after the shooting and her mission has led to a local Binky patrol chapter that is still going more than a decade later.

So, Malgioglio said she did some research and found an organization called Binky Patrol, which did not have a chapter yet in Connecticut. So they officially started Binky Patrol Southern Connecticut 10 years ago and have since made 19,000 blankets.

They even host community events a few times a year, where they raise money for the material and have people get together to make the blankets. Other groups, like high school sports teams, will also contribute their time to the cause.

All the blankets are then distributed to area hospitals, holiday toy drives, to the Center for Family Justice and the Department of Children and Families.

As Malgioglio continues the cause, now 11 years after Sandy Hook, she still reflects on how it all started, thinking about those 26 lives lost and their families.

“I wouldn't know how to recover from that. You know, and I just hope that, that they can take time and look around and see that there are still good people in the world,” said Malgioglio.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Editor’s note: To mark the 11th anniversary remembrance of the Sandy Hook shooting, Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook Elementary principal Dawn Hochsprung, wrote a letter to her mother as she battles a rare cancer.

Mommy,

It’s been 11 years since I’ve seen your face. Eleven years since I’ve been able to give you a hug or hear you and Sissy make fun of me for being … well, me.

I have done so many incredibly stupid things that you would be so mad at me for, but you would be so proud of how I fought like crazy to get out of bad situations and turn my life around into the person that you always told me that I could be, things I never thought possible. Happy. Successful. A good wife and mother.

I wish you were here to mock my insane collection of dogs. You’d love each of them along with their eclectic personalities (especially Jinx, whom I named after one of our longest-standing inside jokes).

I’d do anything to see you spend time with our kids. Cassie has such a loving, caring and beautiful soul. She is incredibly funny, and we would probably have some serious arguments about who gets to hang out with her most. She is everything I could ever dream of in a child and best friend. Chris would be absolutely amazed by your energy and would totally nerd out soaking up everything you had to teach him. He has such a thirst for knowledge! You would forever be comparing his natural athletic abilities to yourself (and let’s be honest, you’d try to take full credit for it). I might actually be worried to leave you and Sabrina alone together, the plots, pranks and jokes would be never-ending! She is such a sarcastic and witty little thing, and your fiery personalities would play perfectly off of each other. You would be so proud of her fearless approach to life. Mostly, I think you would be so genuinely impressed with how hard they are all able to love at such young ages.

Sandy Hook victim’s daughter worries about paying for cancer treatments as Alex Jones avoids paying her $100M

Alex Jones owes the daughter of Sandy Hook principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung more than $100 million in damages. Yet, she is still forced to fundraise to afford her cancer treatment.

I hate that you’re missing all of this. I hate that I can’t call you and tell you how terrified I am of these tumors that are spreading all over and eating my body alive. I want to lay in bed with you and just cry it out. I want to tell you the whole truth about how it feels, I want to talk to the one person in the world that I didn’t have to hold a brave face for. I want to tell you about how crazy unfair and broken our health care system is and how scared I am that Steve and I will not be able to afford to keep me alive. I want to hear you tell me that we will be OK and that we will figure something out because we have no other choice. I want your love and your reassurance.

I feel so selfish to have so much in this world and still go to bed each night needing and wanting more. I want you to tell me that it is not selfish to want to stay alive for my family and I shouldn’t feel guilty for wanting to live.

My heart is still broken, Momma. I will never get over you.

I love you.

Missing you always, Your Baby Girl

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