After a weekend in which conspiracy theorist Alex Jones warned that his media company faced an imminent shutdown by the federal government because of his bankruptcy cases, a judge on Monday allowed Jones to keep operating for the next two weeks while it is decided whether his assets should be liquidated.
Both Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy reorganization after he lost two lawsuits and was ordered to pay $1.5 billion to relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. They sued Jones for calling the shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, a hoax, claiming defamation and infliction of emotional distress.
The families have opposed Jones’ reorganization plans. On Sunday, they filed an emergency motion to convert Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy reorganization into a liquidation, saying Jones has not made progress in showing how he will pay the lawsuit judgments.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston said Monday that he will address the motion on June 14, when a decision on whether to liquidate Jones and his company’s assets is expected.
Jones went on his web and radio show over the weekend with “emergency broadcasts” claiming Free Speech Systems, including his Infowars broadcasts, were going to be shut down at any minute by the federal government and bankruptcy system. That did not happen. At one point, he urged his followers to form a human chain around his studio in Austin, Texas, to protect it.
Some of Jones’ comments came in profanity-laden rants, and Jones appeared to cry at points.
“There’s really no avenue out of this,” Jones said on his show Sunday. “I’m kind of in the bunker here. And don’t worry. I’ll come back. The enemy can’t help but do this attack.”
On Saturday, Jones was defiant, saying “At the end of the day, we’re going to beat these people. I’m not trying to be dramatic here, but it’s been a hard fight. These people hate our children.”
The broadcasts were in response to apparent disputes between Jones, a chief restructuring officer appointed by the bankruptcy court to oversee Jones’ company and another company that supplies the nutritional supplements Jones sells on his shows, according to lawyers in the bankruptcy cases. Jones made disparaging comments about the restructuring officer over the weekend, one of the lawyers said.
The other company that supplies the supplements, PQPR Holdings Limited, is actually mostly owned by Jones. A lawyer for PQPR said in court Monday that the company opposed allowing Free Speech Systems and Infowars to continue operating until June 14, alleging Jones was being uncooperative in the bankruptcy discussions and calling for an immediate closure of Free Speech Systems.
The PQPR attorney, Stephen Lemmon, told the judge that there was no agreement to allow Free Speech Systems to continue operating after Monday.
“We think that everybody is better off if this just gets shut down right now,” Lemmon said.