Judge orders sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to pay families of Sandy Hook victims

A receiver appointed by the court will be responsible for taking over the assets and selling them off to pay the families, according to a court order from Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin signed on Wednesday.

Alex Jones’ media outlet, Infowars, under Free Speech Systems LLC, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 after being ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to relatives of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The families had sued Jones for defamation after he falsely claimed the tragedy, which killed 26 people, was a hoax. Jones later withdrew the claim and issued an apology for his statements.

The order from the judge could potentially see Jones' studio shut down in the coming days, with the order to sell off Infowars. The ruling also appeared to restart an effort by The Onion to buy Infowars as well as its assets to make it into a parody website, per the New York Post. Ben Collins, the chief executive at The Onion, said, “We’re working on it,” in a social media post on Wednesday.

“People want to hear this show. I will continue on with the network. They can harass me forever. … And they won’t get me off the air,” Jones said on Thursday in response to the order.

A lawyer for some of the family members of the Sandy Hook victims said, “Today’s order brings us a critically important step closer to achieving the goal that the Connecticut families have spent years fighting for: holding Alex Jones accountable for years of harm."