The Infowars broadcaster claims to be broke. How and when is he going to pay $1.5 billion to the Sandy Hook parents, and what happens if he doesn’t?
In the decade since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, no person has cashed in on those tragic events in a more malevolent and appalling manner than Alex Jones.
Equal parts conspiracy theorist and snake oil salesman, Jones has spent years pushing outrageous claims about Sandy Hook as a means of catapulting himself upward into the top tier of far-right media figures.
His show, Infowars, was making a staggering $800,000 a day at its height in 2018 — and yet in spite of that apparent financial success, the vitamin-hawking, conspiracy theory-touting “businessman” somehow has absolutely nothing to show for it.
Earlier this year, Jones was ordered to pay approximately $1.5 billion in damages to Sandy Hook parents across several lawsuits. News of this decision has been celebrated across the nation — but what remains unclear is if the 17 plaintiffs in the Sandy Hook cases will ever see a dime of that payment.
Complicating the question is Jones’ bizarre financial situation. In spite of raking in millions upon millions of dollars each year (the vast majority of which come, shockingly, from sales of overpriced vitamin supplements), Jones is, apparently, broke.
Or at least, that’s what he wants us to think.
What is Alex Jones’ net worth?
In July, Jones filed for bankruptcy for his company Free Speech Systems, which is the parent company of Infowars. Then, in early December, following news of the Sandy Hook judgment, Jones filed for personal bankruptcy as well. According to Reuters, his filing claims he has between $1-10 million in assets, and between $1-10 billion in liabilities.
Will Jones avoid paying the Sandy Hook parents?
Jones’ bankruptcy filing will, unfortunately, make it that much more difficult for Sandy Hook parents to ever collect their judgment payments. But he’s not off the hook.
“In bankruptcy, the famous phrase is that it’s intended for the poor but honest debtor,” Professor Jay Westbrook, a distinguished scholar in the field of bankruptcy and the Benno C. Schmidt Chair of Business Law at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, tells Katie Couric Media. “If you’ve done certain kinds of things like commit willful and malicious injury to others, which of course [Jones] has done, then that is not going to be dischargeable. So I would be very, very surprised if you were able to get rid of that debt in bankruptcy.”
In other words: Jones’ bankruptcy filing does not legally wipe all of his debts clean. He still owes that money to the Sandy Hook parents. The question, now, is how much of it he will pay, and when he will pay it.
“I think he certainly will pay some of it, but how much may be a disappointment,” Westbrook says. “He’s got a couple of companies in bankruptcy that he owns, and he personally is in bankruptcy. Those are two quite different things, but in both cases, there are assets that can be sold and turned into money for these judgments.”
Here’s where it gets a little tricky, though: Now that Jones has filed for bankruptcy, the Sandy Hook settlement will essentially be competing with Jones’ other creditors for payment. According to his bankruptcy filing, Jones has 50-99 creditors to whom he owes money, including the 17 Sandy Hook parents from the lawsuit. Jones also listed $150,000 in credit card debt.
“Under our bankruptcy laws, the victims don’t have any priority over just an ordinary creditor,” Westbrook explains. “So that would dilute the recovery considerably, obviously. And I suspect that will definitely be the subject of litigation.”
Why Jones’ Texas residency could impact the Sandy Hook settlement
If you’re already amazed by how difficult it will be for Sandy Hook parents to see any payment from Jones, then buckle up for a lesson on how debt works in the Lone Star State.
“Texas has always been a very debtor-oriented state,” Westbrook notes. “So the problem is this: Jones has at least two homes here in Austin, and they’re very expensive, nice homes. But in Texas, your homestead is inviolate.”
This means that in Texas, one’s “homestead” cannot be seized if that person declares bankruptcy, which is different than other states, where that property can be taken as a means of paying creditors back.
According to Forbes, Jones currently owns five homes in the state of Texas, worth a collective $7.5 million. He recently transferred ownership of the most expensive one, a $3.5 million estate, to his wife before he went to trial. Another property, a condo, has his father listed as a beneficiary. And while this transfer of ownership could eventually be declared fraudulent by a court, it would certainly slow the process of seizing assets.
So it’s safe to say there’s not too much to gain, real estate-wise, from Jones, especially now that he will have certain protections for at least a portion of his properties.
But real estate protections aren’t the only aspect of Texas law that favors the bankrupt.
“Wages and taxes are absolutely exempted without limit in Texas,” Westbrook says. “So if I’m somebody who’s making half a million dollars a year in wages, that’s exempt.”
Yes, you read that right: Anything that Jones files as wages is totally exempt from his bankruptcy filing, meaning that they can’t be seized from him. Are you amazed yet?
So, what will happen to Jones?
To summarize: Jones has declared publicly that he plans to file a legal appeal against the Sandy Hook judgments. He has also filed for multiple forms of bankruptcy, which means that many aspects of his net worth are now protected from the numerous creditors who are chasing him down for payments.
Oh, and that last part should be emphasized: The Sandy Hook parents are literally going to have to compete with Jones’ other creditors for whatever dimes in the couch cushions they can find leftover from Jones’ rapidly diminishing available assets.
By this point, you might be feeling pretty pessimistic about the likelihood that Sandy Hook parents will see any money from Jones in the near future, let alone the billion-plus dollars they’re legally entitled to.
So how’s this thing going to shake out, in the end? Is Jones actually going to get away scot-free, without paying the Sandy Hook parents a single cent?
Jones’ situation might be pretty precarious for the indefinite future. He’ll certainly do his damndest to avoid paying anyone anything — but on the other side of that same coin, his creditors seem ready to keep chasing him.
“There are a variety of time limits on cases like these, but they can be reopened so that you can keep going after him pretty much forever,” Westbrook explains. He notes that there’s a similar high-profile case one could use as an example for how Jones’ settlement could play out in the near future: the Sackler/Purdue Pharma case, in which the highly controversial Sackler family reached a deal via mediation with a group of attorneys general to pay approximately $6 billion in cash to resolve numerous cases in numerous states alleging that they fueled the opioid epidemic.
That may seem like a big number, but there were many who were disappointed by that settlement, especially since part of the agreement included protection for the Sackler family from all civil lawsuits in the future. And the Sacklers are worth much more than $6 billion — but, as Westbrook notes above, sometimes a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. By agreeing to pay a certain amount, the attorneys general were able to give their clients something as a form of monetary restitution — and the same thing might end up happening for the Sandy Hook parents.
“I can imagine Jones doing something similar,” Westbrook says, referencing that case. “I can imagine, at some point, people deciding that it just doesn’t make any sense to chase these things any longer. At some point, everybody gets tired and you settle. I think it’s likely to be the result here.”
