Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $US965 million ($1.5 billion) in damages to families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre for falsely claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy.
"Do these people actually think they're getting any of this money?" Jones said on a live broadcast of his Infowars show on Tuesday as the decision was being read in court.
So, will they?
Who is Alex Jones and what are the damages for?
Let's revisit the basics on the case.
Jones is an American conspiracy theorist and right-wing host and operator of Infowars.
For years, he claimed the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre — where 20 students and six teachers died — was staged as part of a government plot to take away Americans' guns.
On Thursday, he was ordered to pay $US965 million ($1.5 billion) to families of eight Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, plus an FBI agent who was among the first responders.
The plaintiffs said Jones turned their loss and trauma into years of torment by promoting the lie that the rampage was a hoax.
A Texas jury in August also awarded nearly $US49.3 million ($78.5 million) to the parents of another child killed in the tragedy, in a separate trial.
Both lawsuits accused Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, of using the mass killing to build his audience and make millions of dollars.
Experts testified that Jones’s audience swelled, as did his revenue from product sales, when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show.
Jones also faces a third trial at the end of the year, also in Texas, in a lawsuit filed by the parents of another child killed in the shooting.
How did the families react to the judgement?
Families of the victims wept as the decision was handed down. Outside court, they said they hoped to finally grieve in peace.
Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, testified that people mailed rape threats to her house.
"I wish that, after today, I can just be a daughter grieving my mother and stop worrying about the conspiracy theorists," she said.
However, she predicted that Jones's "hate, lies and conspiracy theories will follow both me and my family through the rest of our days".
Robbie Parker — who lost his 6-year-old daughter, Emilie — said outside the Connecticut court that he was proud that "what we were able to accomplish was just to simply tell the truth".
"And it shouldn't be this hard, and it shouldn't be this scary," said Mr Parker, who became an early focus for conspiracy theorists after he spoke at a news conference the day after the shooting.
Mark Barden testified that conspiracy theorists urinated on the grave of his 7-year-old son, Daniel, and threatened to dig up the coffin.
Can Jones pay the $US1 billion judgement?
It is unclear how much Jones can actually afford to pay from the verdicts.
During the trial in Texas, he testified he couldn't afford any judgement over $US2 million, and his lawyers said they planned to appeal and try to reduce the damages.
He also told the Texas jury he was "bankrupt", referring to his filing for bankruptcy for Free Speech Systems in late July.
However, economist Bernard Pettingill Jr. testified in this proceeding that Jones and his company were worth as much as $US270 million.
"Do these people actually think they’re getting any of this money?” Jones said on a live broadcast on his Infowars website on Tuesday as the verdict was being read.
"Ain't gonna be happening. Ain't no money."
Journalist and author of Sandy Hook, Elizabeth Williamson, said the decision was "financially ruinous for Alex Jones".
"He is not wealthy enough to pay this judgement," she said.
During his live broadcast on Tuesday, Jones appealed to his audience to send him donations — but the money wasn't for the victims.
"The money you donate does not go to these people [the plaintiffs]. It goes to fight this fraud and it goes to stabilise this company [Infowars]."
With a sum of money so large — not to mention the additional $US49.3 million ($78.5 million) he was ordered to pay a family in the first trial, and a third trial looming — it poses the question: Will families ever receive the full compensation.
How likely is it families will receive the owed compensation?
At this stage, experts aren't sure — and it could be a long road ahead for the plaintiffs.
Journalist Williamson said that it "remains to be seen" if the families would see the money.
"The families vowed, after court, that they will pursue him and that they will collect every dollar that they have been awarded. They can get as much as they can from him but this will be a years-long fight," she said.
However, there are other avenues for the victims' families.
They can use the judgement to go after his property, his assets and pretty much everything in his name.
"One of the things that Alex Jones tried to do throughout this case was to hide his assets, to conceal from the court, from the jury, the true extent of his profits here," said lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Chris Mattei.
"But we're going to find out."
Mr Mattei said bankruptcy court allowed the families to "go after" Jones's assets, including any fraudulent transfer of assets, and placing scrutiny on what assets he has, what he has transferred and what is available.
"Whatever is available, you can be rest assured that we, as representatives of these families and the other families who have brought cases, will be coordinating to make sure that those assets are available for recovery to the victims of his offences," he said.
ABC
