Families of the Sandy Hook massacre victims moved to take over Alex Jones’s social media accounts Thursday as a bankruptcy lawsuit over his estate moves into liquidation proceedings.
Jones, who was held liable for nearly $1.5 billion in damages for his false claims that the 2012 mass shooting was in some way faked, has attempted to avoid losing all of his assets in the bankruptcy process.
The families and Jones came to an agreement last week that his assets should be liquidated, including his stake in the InfoWars web show, which Jones used to spread false conspiracies. In a court filing Thursday, the families claim Jones’s social media accounts should also be included in the liquidation to prevent him from using them to create future businesses.
The families argued that Jones’s 2.3 million-follower account on the social platform X is “no different than a customer list of any other liquidating business.”
A Houston judge is expected to move Jones’s case to Chapter 7 bankruptcy in a Friday hearing, where the motion regarding the social media accounts will be heard. A Chapter 7 judgment ensures the families can continue to collect on his assets and income until the debt is paid, likely the rest of Jones’s life.
Jones has estimated in court records that he has less than $12 million in assets, meaning he will carry an enormous legal debt even after Infowars and his other assets are sold.
A gunman killed 20 children and six school staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Sandy Hook, Conn., in December 2012. Jones repeatedly claimed that the killed students were actors and that the massacre was a setup, leading to harassment against the families.