New York CNN —
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones filed for personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Texas court on Friday, according to court documents.
In the filing, Jones estimates his assets to be worth between $1 to 10 million, and his liabilities to be between $1 to $10 billion. The personal filing for bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of Texas is in addition to a bankruptcy protection filing for Jones’ primary company Free Speech Systems, which was made in July.
The personal filing comes after Jones lost a bid in Texas to water down the nearly $50 million damages award handed down by a jury earlier this year over the Infowars host’s false claims about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
The judgment adds to a growing list of rulings and trials racking up costs for Jones, who owes $1.4 billion in a separate Connecticut case brought by eight families of Sandy Hook victims and a first responder. There is a hearing Friday in Connecticut to discuss Jones’ assets, in that case.
Jones has baselessly repeated after the 2012 mass shooting, in which 26 people were killed, that the incident was staged, and that the families and first responders were “crisis actors.”
While Jones initially lied about the 2012 shooting, he later acknowledged that the massacre had occurred as he faced multiple lawsuits. But he failed to comply with court orders during the discovery process of the lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas, leading the families in each state to win default judgments against him.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
