Media personality and right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, already liable for $1.5 billion, could potentially face two more defamation trials this year, per an agreement revealed by his lawyers Wednesday.
Under the newly-revealed agreement, three plaintiffs would potentially be able to proceed to trial in Texas after Jones publicly and falsely asserted that the father of a Sandy Hook massacre victim “faked” a CNN interview about his son’s death. A Texas judge found Jones liable for defaming the murdered child’s parents after he refused to comply with court orders in the case.
Surviving loved ones of the late Marcel Fontaine, who was falsely identified as the gunman in the 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting on Jones’ Infowars network, could potentially proceed to trial in December. Fontaine died in 2022.
Jones for years has contended—and broadcast on his InfoWars program—that the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that took the lives of 20 Connecticut first graders and six adults was a hoax. He has falsely stated that it was part of a government plot to seize America’s gun.
Last year, the courts found that Jones and his company Free Speech Systems were liable for $1.5 billion in defamation suits brought by several Sandy Hook victims’ family members who said Jones’ false assertions damaged their reputations and exposed them to threats.
On his show, Jones responded by calling the liable awards “ridiculous” and a “joke” while claiming he has “almost nothing” in terms of being able to pay the damages.
Jones in early December filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Houston court.
In a bankruptcy hearing Wednesday, Jones’ attorneys previewed the agreement, telling U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez that it allows Jones to avoid these additional trials if he completes a bankruptcy settlement by August 31.
Lopez—who in February allowed the Sandy Hook victims’ families to retain a forensic investigator to probe Jones’ bankruptcy claims—will decide whether to approve the agreement on June 29.
