Alex Jones spoke to a local reporter from News12 Connecticut while on an apparent lunch break during a multi-day deposition in Bridgeport, Conn., on April 6, 2022. (Image via News12/Twitter video screengrab.)
Three companies associated with InfoWars host Alex Jones have filed for bankruptcy amid multiple defamation lawsuits that have resulted in hundreds of thousands in fines against the man who falsely called the 2012 school massacre at Sandy Hook a “hoax.”
According to court filings, the companies—InfoWars, IWHealth, and Prison Planet TV—filed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions on Sunday.
All three business indicate that they have fewer than 50 debtors and owe between $1 and $10 million in estimated liabilities, according to the filings. Two of the companies, InfoWars and Prison Planet TV, have $50,000 or less in assets, while IWHealth has an estimated $500,000 to $1 million in assets, the court filings say.
The bankruptcy move comes as pressure from multiple defamation lawsuits continues to mount against Jones. The bombastic host has already lost multiple lawsuits by default in connection with the falsehoods he spread about Sandy Hook, including the false statement that the shooting at the Connecticut school was a so-called “false flag” operation that never really happened and that the people involved, including the 6- and 7-year-old victims, were crisis actors.
Most recently, a Connecticut judge found Jones in contempt of court for repeatedly failing to sit for a deposition. That judge ordered that Jones pay for every day doesn’t show up for a deposition with fines starting at $25,000 and rising by $25,000 for every day thereafter where he fails to appear.
Sandy Hook families recently settled for $73 million with the insurance company for Remington, the gun manufacturer that made the AR-15-style rifle that gunman Adam Lanza used in the Sandy Hook mass shooting.
For his part, Jones has tried to settle the case by offering $120,000 to the parents of the Sandy Hook victims and a “heartfelt apology for any distress his remarks caused.”
A search for court documents on Monday did not reveal bankruptcy filings for a fourth company associated with Jones, Free Speech Systems, LLC (FSS), which runs InfoWars.
“InfoWars and Prison Planet TV license their intellectual property and domain names to FSS for use in its business but the Debtors do not produce or have any control over the content of Infowars,” the IWHealth bankruptcy petition says, adding that FSS “maintains and operates” the InfoWars website.
“The Debtors have been advised that all the assets of FSS serve as collateral to repay obligations to PQPR holdings,” according to a footnote in the companies’ joint request for a hearing.
However, at least one group of defamation plaintiffs says that PQPR is connected to a shell-company scheme that is set up to hide Jones’ assets.
That filing alleges that defendant PQPR Holdings Limited LLC, a “Nevada limited-liability company,” is an “entity that has been previously identified by the Jones Debtors as a party to transfers or obligations that Plaintiffs contend are fraudulent.”
According to a court filing earlier this month in a defamation lawsuit brought by Neil Heslin and other parents whose children were killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, Jones withdrew millions from Free Speech Systems in an attempt to hid the companies’ assets ahead of having to make payments in connection with the defamation lawsuits.
“To date, Plaintiffs have found no entity by this name and no registered agent to receive service,” the filing adds.
That filing also notes that Jones’ parents, Carol Jones and David Jones, each “directly owns, operates, and receives income from PQPR Holdings Limited LLC.”
Court documents show that lawyers for Jones have requested a hearing in the bankruptcy case on or before Friday.
The first defamation case is set to go to trial in Texas later this month. The Connecticut case is set for trial in September.
Attorneys for Jones and plaintiffs in the defamation cases did not immediately reply to Law&Crime’s request for comment.
[Image via News12/Twitter video screengrab.]