A bankruptcy judge ruled Tuesday that a court-appointed trustee can proceed with plans to dissolve Alex Jones' media company and auction off its assets, with the proceeds going to families of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting victims. Attorneys representing those families told NPR that the decision is “a significant step forward” toward a “fair and equitable” resolution for the families, who sued Jones for inciting harassment against them by repeatedly claiming that the shooting was a false-flag operation in which no one actually died.
Free Speech Systems (FSS), the Jones-owned parent company of his far-right conspiracy website InfoWars, "will now be sold at auction, meaning Alex Jones will no longer own or control the company he built,” said attorney Chris Mattei. “This brings the families closer to their goal of holding him accountable for the harm he has caused."
The sale of Jones' assets will help contribute to the $1.5 billion in damages he owes to the families. But almost certainly won't be enough: Court filings indicate that a mere $8 million will be distributed among the families by the end of the process.
Meanwhile, FSS is already being stripped bare — production equipment, domain names and product trademarks from the InfoWars vitamin and supplement store are already listed for sale. The store, which sold products like "Super Male Vitality" and "Brain Force Plus," netted most of the company's revenue and its loss will be keenly felt.
The sale process will begin with sealed bids, followed by open auctions on Nov. 13 and Dec. 10. While the bidders are unknown, Christoper Murray, the bankruptcy trustee, said in court that several parties have expressed interest in buying FSS scraps, including Jones' X account. While some parties might want to ride the vitamin and supplement profit train or simply kill the company, the heightened interest over Jones' intellectual property indicates that many more want it to live on.
“What that suggests to me is that the highest monetary bidders are going to be entities who want to take this brand and run with it in some way,” University of Florida bankruptcy law professor Chris Hampson told NPR. That would mean someone “in the right wing media ecosystem that would have a ready-made audience for them.”
Even if Jones reclaims control of an ostensibly new entity, his team and some of the Sandy Hook families are continuing talks over a deal that would bar Jones from continuing to mention the school shooting.
