ALEX JONES'S INFOWARS FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY AMID SANDY HOOK SCHOOL SHOOTING DEFAMATION...
0Alex Jones's Infowars files for bankruptcy amid Sandy Hook school shooting defamation lawsuits
American far right conspiracy website Infowars has filed for bankruptcy. in the face of damages it owes from defamation lawsuits stemming from its false claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. Alex Jones. founder of Infowars. was found liable for damages in a trio of lawsuits last year after he falsely claimed the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. Mr Jones claimed the shooting. in which 20 children and six employees were shot dead at the school in the state of Connecticut. was fabricated by gun control advocates and mainstream media. He has since said he believes the shooting did occur. and has claimed that he has been denied a fair trial. Relatives of some of the victims have sued Mr Jones for defamation and say they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from his followers. Infowars filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Sunday. according to court documents. Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures put a hold on all civil litigation matters and allow companies to prepare turnaround plans while remaining operational. Sandy Hook families in late March rejected Mr Jones's offer to settle their defamation lawsuit and reopened the case. Read more Mr Jones had offered to pay $US120.000 ($163.000) to each of the 13 plaintiffs to settle the case. Each of the plaintiffs turned down the settlement offer in court documents. 'The so called offer is a transparent and desperate attempt by Alex Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful. profit driven campaign against the plaintiffs and the memory of their loved ones lost at Sandy Hook.' they said. A trial on how much Mr Jones should pay the families is set for August. According to the bankruptcy court filings. Infowars listed its estimated assets in the range of $US0 $US50.000 and estimated liabilities in the range of $US1 million to $US10 million. Another recently filed lawsuit accused Mr Jones of hiding millions of dollars in assets. but an attorney representing him called that allegation 'ridiculous'. Reuters/AP
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