Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after bankruptcy decide sends Sandy Hook cases to Texas courtroom

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation instances again to state court docket in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 dad and mom who received two defamation instances against Jones in Texas final yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as quickly as June, Bankston advised.

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his consultant stated in court docket, because he feared it could harm his model within the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in a similar outcome as the Texas cases.

The rationale has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families took here and in Texas to outflank Jones in bankruptcy courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed monthly revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech programs might be released back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not party to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter courtroom in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342