'It just needs to end': Judge says Alex Jones’ bill to Sandy Hook victims still is unpaid

Infowars' Alex Jones at a demonstration in Washington, DC on April 18, 2020

For years, far-right conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones has been in bankruptcy court dealing with a major civil judgement against him. And on Thursday, June 5, Sandy Hook families expressed their frustration that they have yet to collect anything.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre of 2012, Jones falsely claimed that the mass shooting was a hoax. Relatives of the children who were killed became the targets of death threats and harassment, and Jones was ordered to pay $1.3 billion after jurors in two civil lawsuits found him guilty of defamation.

National Public Radio (NPR) reporter Tovia Smith, in an article published on June 6, explains, "After a frustrating and futile three years in federal bankruptcy court, the Sandy Hook families who sued Infowars conspiracist Alex Jones for defamation thought they were finally getting closer to collecting the $1.3 billion that he owes them. But as a hearing in federal bankruptcy court in Texas got underway on Thursday, things seemed to be going the other way, with all parties showing signs of exasperation, including the judge."

The frustrated judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher López, told the courtroom, "This case has been pending since 2022, folks. It just needs to end."

Smith reports, "The more the case drags on, (López) added, the more money from Jones' estate will be going toward paying the lawyers, leaving less for the families. But the judge himself fueled concerns about delays, as he appeared to be changing his mind on how Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems, should be sold."

The Sandy Hook family members who have been trying to collect money from the civil judgements, Smith notes, have faced an "exhausting legal ordeal."

Smith quotes Avi Moshenberg, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families, as saying, "Jones is obviously throwing every roadblock in the way (to avoid) accountability. These families have been through enough. They want closure. They have done nothing to deserve the added pain that comes through more delay, and they will not be deterred from getting justice."

Read the full NPR article at this link.