Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist and founder of the far-right media outlet Infowars, has agreed to liquidate his assets in order to start paying the nearly $1.5 billion in damages he owes the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. This comes after years of Jones spreading false information and causing anguish to the grieving families.

The relatives of the Sandy Hook victims finally won their defamation suits against Jones in 2021, a major victory in their long fight for accountability. However, the families had yet to see any compensation, as Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022.

But now, Jones has requested to convert his bankruptcy into a liquidation process, a move that comes after the victims’ families had asked a bankruptcy judge in Texas to liquidate Infowars and Jones’ entire media empire. This decision, though unlikely to fully cover the staggering $1.5 billion in damages, will force Jones to relinquish control of Infowars, the platform he used for 25 years to spew false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook massacre.

“The Connecticut families have fought for years to hold him responsible no matter the cost and at great personal peril. Their steadfast focus on meaningful accountability, and not just money, is what has now brought him to the brink of justice in the way that matters most,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney representing some of the Sandy Hook families.

Jones infamously claimed that the shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six teachers was a “hoax,” but has since testified in a Texas courtroom that he now understands his statements were “irresponsible” and that he believes the tragedy was “100% real.”

However, this belated acknowledgment has done little to assuage the pain and trauma experienced by the victims’ families, who endured years of harassment and torment from Jones’ listeners as a result of his lies.

Last week, Jones went on a rant saying “the government was trying to shut down Infowars.”

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