Lawyers Accuse Alex Jones of Hiding Assets

'Alex Jones is not financially bankrupt; he is morally bankrupt'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 26, 2022 5:00 AM CDT
Lawyers: Jones Is Hiding Assets to Avoid Paying Families
Alex Jones talks to media during a midday break in his trial at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, on July 26, 2022.   (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP, Pool, File)

Lawyers for the families of Sandy Hook victims say Alex Jones has been shuffling millions of dollars between relatives and companies while claiming to be bankrupt. The families have asked a federal bankruptcy court to appoint a trustee to take charge of Free Speech Systems, the parent company of the conspiracy theorist's media empire, the New York Times reports. "Alex Jones is not financially bankrupt; he is morally bankrupt, which is becoming more and more clear as we discover his plots to hide money and evade responsibility," lawyer Kyle Farrar said. "He used lies to amass a fortune, and now he is using lies and fictions to shield his money."

According to a Thursday court filing, Jones "systematically transferred" $62 million into companies controlled by him and his parents after the families filed suit in 2018 over his claims the 2012 school shooting was a hoax. Jones put Free Speech Systems in Chapter 11 bankruptcy soon before the first of three trials to determine damages awarded the parents of one victim $50 million. Lawyers argued in Thursday's filing that the company had created a "fictional" $54 million debt to Jones-controlled company PQPR Holdings, which "performs no services, has no employees, and has no warehouse," to avoid paying the families.

The families are also seeking a court-appointed committee to restrict Jones' ability to control the finances of his Infowars outlet, the Times reports. According to Thursday's filing, Jones started transferring up to 80% of Infowars' sales revenue to PQPR soon before he lost defamation suits filed by the families in a default judgment last year. In a separate case, Jones lawyer Norman Pattis invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a Connecticut hearing Thursday over the alleged improper disclosure of confidential medical records of relatives of Sandy Hook victims, the AP reports. It's "unusual" for a lawyer to invoke the Fifth during a disciplinary hearing, Judge Barabara Bellis noted. (More Alex Jones stories.)

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