Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, famous American podcast host with violent content, has declared bankruptcy. His decision was expectedbecause Jones had recently been ordered to pay qalmost one and a half billion dollars in compensation to some families of the victims of the massacre at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticutwhere on 14 December 2012 twenty-six people, including twenty children between 6 and 7 years old, were killed by a young man armed with a war rifle.
Jones has maintained for years that it was all a hoax, and that the victims and their parents were actually actors paid to perform. The goal, according to his theorem, would have been to create a “pretext” to push thegovernment to seize weapons from the Americans. For years Jones continued to support his rambling theories,fueling a wave of hatred towards the relatives of the victims, who were targeted by the ‘haters’.
In the wake of his show, Infowars, Jones has gone on to earn more than seventy million dollars a yearselling products bearing the name of his program, which has become a hallmark of conspiracy theorists and supporters of Donald Trump.
In October, the sentence of a judge arrived, who in Connecticut established the amount that Jones will have to pay to some family members of the victims at 1.4 billion. Among these, one of the major creditors is Robert Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter, Emilie, died in the Sandy Hook massacre. Jones had for years broadcast the video of the press conference in which Parker, in tears, remembered his daughter, the day after the massacre.
The conductor had called him an “actor” and branded the conference as “disgusting”. The conspirators then threatened Parker and his family with death. The court ruled that Jones will have to pay Parker 140 milliondollars, as part of that $1.4 billion in class settlements.
Now, however, with the request to access Chapter 11 which regulates bankruptcy, the time for the payment of compensation will be extended. The families of the victims will now have to follow a more complex procedure in order to access what has already been established by the judge. But at the same time, the conductor’s financial empire will be sieved by the court.
