Alex Jones’s Infowars business will be auctioned off to help pay for the $1.5 billion settlement awarded to the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, a Texas bankruptcy judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said in his ruling the proposed auctions were “fair, reasonable, and appropriate.”
Infowars’ assets, including its social media accounts, copyrighted materials and trademarks, will be liquidated in November, and additional assets including studio equipment will be sold at an auction at a later date.
The proceedings nearly finalize the years-long saga for Jones, the far-right conspiracy theorist who spread baseless lies about the victims and families of those killed in Newtown, Conn.
The families moved to take over his social media accounts as part of the business liquidation process.
The trustee in charge of Jones’s bankruptcy proceedings announced in June that it would move to shut down the Infowars site and liquidate his business assets. A judge also ruled Jones must liquidate his personal assets.
Jones was held liable for nearly $1.5 billion in damages for his false claims about the 2012 mass shooting. He repeatedly argued that the school shooting, the deadliest at an elementary school in U.S. history, was somehow faked and called the bereaved “crisis actors.”
He filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after losing the lawsuits filed by the families.
A gunman killed 20 children and six school staff at Sandy Hook in December 2012 before ending his own life.
According to the company running the auction, Three Sixty Asset Advisors, the sale will begin on Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. Central Time. Anyone can bid, but interested parties will be required to submit a non-disclosure agreement before receiving information about what’s in the sale.
The auction could spell the end of Jones’s media career, but he’s vowed to continue his shows, potentially though a new website.
