Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has offered to pay the families of Sandy Hook victims $55 million over 10 years – a fraction of the $1.5 billion they were awarded for falsely claiming the shooting was staged at school.
Jones, 49, and his Austin-based company Free Speech Systems both filed for bankruptcy last year, with the families losing more than $1.4 billion in a lawsuit in Connecticut and another $50 million in a lawsuit in Texas were awarded.
A third lawsuit is pending in Texas, in a similar lawsuit over Jones' hoax conspiracy filed by the parents of another child killed in the school shooting.
The families are now focused on getting Jones to pay up.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is shown a photo of Judge Barbara Bellis with laser beams emanating from her eyes during his testimony on his website as Judge Bellis listens to his right during the Sandy Hook defamation trial in September 2022. Jones is now seeking to reduce the amount of damages he should be paid
Jones appeared on Tucker Carlson's show earlier this month
Relatives of the deceased children can be seen sobbing during the trial in October 2022
Victims' families hug their legal team on October 12, 2022
In November they said he could either liquidate his estate and give the proceeds to families or pay at least $8.5 million a year, plus 50 percent of any income over $9 million a year for 10 years.
Jones responded Friday in a statement of claim filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston.
The deal will be debated and contested over the next two months. Hearings are scheduled for February that will lead to a final decision on how much Jones must pay.
Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut, said Jones' proposal was “vastly inadequate” to provide the families everything they were entitled to under bankruptcy law.
“The families' plan is the only viable way to ensure that Jones' assets are quickly distributed to those he has victimized for more than a decade,” Mattei said in a statement Saturday.
Jones' new proposal to settle with the families for at least $5.5 million a year for 10 years doesn't appear to offer much more than what Free Speech Systems offered them in its bankruptcy case last month.
A memorial to the victims of Sandy Hook is pictured on December 16, 2012. Jones claimed the shooting was faked by people who wanted to restrict Americans' right to own guns
On December 14, 2012, immediately after the shooting, police are seen outside Sandy Hook School
Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Jones' Infowars show, proposed paying creditors about $4 million a year, down from an estimate earlier this year of $7 million to $10 million a year .
The company said it expects to earn about $19.2 million next year from sales of supplements, clothing and other goods that Jones promotes on his shows, while operating expenses including salaries will amount to about $14 .3 million US dollars.
Personally, Jones listed total assets of about $13 million, including about $856,000 in various bank accounts, in financial reports recently filed with bankruptcy court.
A judge recently granted Jones permission to sell some of his assets, including weapons, vehicles and jewelry, to raise money for creditors.
Jones is seen on October 4, 2022, after losing his libel case
The conspiracy theorist and Infowars host (left) imagined that his wife Erika Wulff Jones (right) might owe even more damages pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the parents of six-year-old Sandy Hook victim Noah Pozner
Jones lists a $70,000 Dodge Charger and a $60,000 Chevy Tahoe in his bankruptcy filings
The families' plan was to create a trust that would liquidate nearly all of Jones' assets, except for his primary residence and other properties exempt from sale under bankruptcy law.
The trust would have broad powers, including the power to recover money paid to Jones and given to others if those transfers were not permitted by law.
The families complain about Jones' personal expenses, which have exceeded $90,000 a month this year.
There is also another lawsuit pending that alleges Jones hid millions of dollars to protect his assets. One of Jones' lawyers called the allegations “ridiculous.”
Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion awarded to the families, insisting that his comments about the shooting were protected by free speech rights.