Infowars host Alex Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in his home state of Texas on Friday after courts ordered him to pay nearly $1.5 billion for capitalizing on falsehoods about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.
The conspiracy theorist filed for Chapter 11 protection in the Southern District of Texas, court documents show.
Courts have repeatedly ruled against Jones in recent months, sticking him with orders to pay a massive amount of money from the various lawsuits. After a Texas court said he owed more than $45 million in August, Jones was saddled with $965 million in damages in October thanks to a Connecticut court, followed by a Connecticut judge’s order to pay up an additional $473 million.
Since a gunman stormed the Newtown, Connecticut, school to murder 20 first graders and six educators, Jones has been telling his audience that the shooting was probably staged and that the grieving family members of the victims were actors.
The Sandy Hook families, dogged for years by threats from Infowars’ fan base, responded by suing for defamation. An FBI agent who responded to the horrific scene also joined.
Despite his claims to the contrary, Infowars has been a reliable moneymaker for Jones. Between 2015 and 2018, the company raked in $165 million, according to financial records previously obtained by HuffPost. But as he faced an onslaught of lawsuits that did not appear to be going his way, Jones reportedly started moving his millions around to family members or other companies in order to shield it, according to The Washington Post.