After $1 billion in damages, now $472 million fine for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones | Abroad

Last month, a Connecticut public jury ruled that Jones and the parent company of his website Infowars must pay $965 million in damages to the families of victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre for falsely claiming the victims were actors. . According to Jones, they would have staged the shooting because of an attempt by the government to limit gun ownership in the US.

On December 14, 2012, gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother, then 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, before turning the gun on himself. Jones then insisted for years that it was all staged. Even the grieving parents were completely made up, according to Jones, played by actors. He spread that idea on his popular platform Infowars. As a result of those conspiracy theories, the next of kin were threatened, both on the street and online.

Jones said of the shooting, among other things: ,,It was an exercise, a gigantic theater piece. Did they really kill some kids? I don’t know.” And: ,,This must be investigated. They are clearly using this to go after our weapons.”

The judge also issued a separate injunction on Wednesday temporarily preventing Jones from transferring his money abroad. The ruling came at the request of prosecutors, who allege Jones is trying to hide his assets to escape payments.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to fine Jones as well, citing the “historical” magnitude of his misdeeds and his “utter lack of remorse.” Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting did indeed take place, but declined to apologize to the next of kin during his testimony at the trial.

In a statement, the plaintiff’s attorney Chris Mattei said the ruling “reinforces the message of this case: those who profit from lies directed against innocents will be brought to justice.”

Jones’ attorney Norm Pattis called the verdict “a tragedy”. “This latest verdict is a farce. It makes our job in the appeals process all the easier,” he said in a statement. In recent court documents, he also called the verdict excessive and called for a reduction in the fine. In addition, the lawyer wants the trial to take place again because, according to him, unfair decisions were made in the run-up to the case.

The Connecticut trial follows a previous lawsuit in Texas, where Jones and his company were fined $45 million in a similar lawsuit brought by two parents of children from Sandy Hook School in Texas, where Infowars is located. . A third trial against Jones is pending in Texas.

Jones’ company Free Speech Systems LLC filed for bankruptcy in Texas in July. Sandy Hook’s families have intervened in that case, urging the judge to freeze the company’s assets and investigate its finances. They allege that Jones took $62 million from the company and saddled it with $65 million in “fabricated” debt.