Lawyers representing families of Sandy Hook massacre victims said in a new court filing they found child pornography in electronic files turned over to them by Infowars founder Alex Jones.
The law firm Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder said it made the discovery after Jones turned over the files in response to the families’ lawsuit against him, according to The Connecticut Post.
The families of eight victims of the shooting have filed a defamation suit against Jones for previously claiming the 2012 Newtown, Conn., shooting, in which 26 people died, was a “hoax.”
{mosads}A judge ordered Jones’s lawyers to turn over electronically stored data on Jones’s business operations. The plaintiffs’ electronic information consultants found the child porn when they began reviewing the files, prompting the Sandy Hook families’ lawyers to immediately notify the FBI, CNBC reported.
The court filing said that the FBI ordered the lawyers to turn over all of the documents.
The FBI later “advised counsel that its review located numerous additional illegal images, which had apparently been sent to Infowars emails addresses,” the filing says.
“When the FBI indicated it had completed its review, plaintiffs’ counsel advised [Jones’ lawyer] Pattis of the matter and arranged a joint telephone call with the United States Attorney’s Office.”
The filing says “if the Jones Defendants had engaged in even minimal due diligence and actually reviewed the materials before production [to the plaintiffs], they would have found the images themselves,” CNBC reported.
Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, said in an email to The Hill that he spoke to federal prosecutors last week and that there is “no indication anyone at InfoWars knowingly possessed child pornography.”
“The items were embedded in emails sent to folks at InfoWars without ever having been opened,” he said. “The plaintiffs’s lawyer suggestion that anyone at InfoWars knew child pornography was embedded in emails is risible.”
The FBI, citing Department of Justice policy, said in a statement to The Hill that it would neither confirm nor deny “the existence of an investigation.”
Jones denied the accusation last week, saying on his InfoWars show that lawyer Chris Mattei was trying to set him up.
“You’re trying to set me up with child porn, I’ll get your ass,” Jones said on the broadcast, before adding, “one million dollars, you little gang members. One million dollars to put your head on a pike.”
Mattei and his law firm stated in the court filing that Jones’s remarks represented threats against them, CNBC added. Mattei did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
Pattis pushed back against the idea that Jones was acting in a threatening manner.
“Mr. Jones was upset, he did not threaten Mr. Mattei,” Pattis said to the Post. “He spoke in a compassionate fashion.”
Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families have reportedly asked a Connecticut court to take immediate action on the new allegation. A court hearing focused on whether Jones threatened Mattei and his firm is scheduled for Tuesday, CNBC noted. .
Jones has repeatedly amplified conspiracy theories related to the Sandy Hook shooting, which occurred on Dec. 14, 2012.
“I’ve watched a lot of soap operas, and I’ve seen actors before,” Jones said in 2016. “And I know when I’m watching a movie and when I’m watching something real.”
He acknowledged in a sworn deposition earlier this year that the shooting occurred, claiming a “form of psychosis” made him question whether certain events were staged.
—Updated at 7:57 p.m.