A bankruptcy judge said that he will issue a decision regarding the motion on June 14.
Attorneys for the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims have asked the court to liquidate Alex Jones’s media company, citing his alleged failure to come up with a reorganization plan.
Mr. Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems (FSS), filed for bankruptcy in December 2022 after being ordered to pay about $1.5 billion in damages for questioning whether the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was an orchestrated hoax perpetrated by crisis actors to push gun control laws.
The victims’ families sued Mr. Jones for allegedly causing emotional distress. Twenty children and six adults were killed in the shooting.
Attorneys for the families filed an emergency motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston on June 2, demanding that the FSS case be converted from a Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation and that Mr. Jones’s media company be shut down immediately.
They stated in the motion that FSS has provided “no prospect of a confirmable plan of reorganization” and that it “failed to demonstrate any hope of beginning to satisfy the Connecticut Families’ claims.”
“The Connecticut Families firmly believe that a supervised liquidation is critical at this time, and will bring the FSS Case to a much-needed conclusion in a manner that will allow creditors to realize immediate recovery,” the motion reads.
Threat of Liquidation
In their motion, the families’ attorneys raised concerns about the possible dismissal of the FSS case, citing Mr. Jones’s recent statements on his Infowars web and radio show that he would maintain control of the company.
They said that Mr. Jones made “several false and offensive” statements about the FSS chief restructuring officer (CRO) for the bankruptcy. They also alleged that he vowed to blockade the FSS offices in the event that its operations were threatened.
“Jones’ statements are concerning for a number of reasons, but most notably, they undermine the ability of a trustee to carry out any liquidation of Jones’ estate that involves his divestiture from FSS, as well as creditors’ ability to exercise their state law rights to enforce their claims. Jones’ threats to undermine this court’s orders should not be condoned,” they stated.
