A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday cleared the way for a defamation lawsuit in Connecticut to proceed against Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the Associated Press reported. The case was filed by relatives of some victims of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones has falsely claimed that the nation’s deadliest school shooting — which killed 20 students and six educators — was a hoax. Jones’ lawyer had sought to transfer the case to a federal bankruptcy court, rather than continue the case in Connecticut state court. That move brought the first day of jury selection to a sudden halt earlier this month. However, yesterday’s ruling by Judge Julie Manning essentially allows the plaintiffs to continue the defamation lawsuit against just Jones as an individual, without Free Speech Systems, a company owned by Jones and a defendant in the Connecticut case. “The plaintiffs’ rights to have that process continue in the Connecticut Superior Court should not be disturbed,” Manning wrote in the decision, adding that the plaintiffs’ claims for damages were ready for trial. Read more.
In related news, “Infowars” host Alex Jones has transferred his $3 million Austin, Texas estate to his wife, Erika Wulff Jones, according to public property records, the New York Post reported. On August 5, the controversial conspiracy theorist was ordered by a Texas jury to pay more than $45 million to the parents of one of the victims of the 2012 school shooting that killed 20 children and six adults. The ruling came a day after Jones was also ordered to cough up $4.1 million in compensatory damages for claiming that the Newtown, Conn. school shooting was a hoax, designed to increase support for gun control. Andino Reynal, Jone’s lawyer, had requested the penalty be under $300,000. “You’ve already sent a message. A message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts, that their standard of care has to change,” said Reynal. Jones had testified that any amount he owed over $2 million would “sink” Infowars’ parent company. However, a plaintiff-hired economist estimated Jones and his company were worth as much as $270 million, and that he withdrew $62 million for himself last year as he faced default judgments in lawsuits. Read more.
