XPost: law.court.federal, austin.general, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.misc
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/02/07/alex-jones- bankruptcy-settlement-denied-sandy-hook/78311451007/
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the case of
conspiracy theorist Alex Jones rejected a proposed settlement from the
families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims.
The decision complicates a proposed sale of Jones' Infowars platform and
could spur divisions between families who sued Jones and won nearly $1.3 billion in Connecticut court cases and those who won $50 million in Texas courts. The proposed settlement had aimed to address how the families
would split $16 million in liquidated assets.
In the proposed settlement, the families who sued Jones in Texas would
have received $4 million and the right to collect 25% of any distributions exceeding $12 million going to the families who sued Jones in Connecticut.
The settlement could have allowed some families who sued in Texas to collectively receive up to $480 million from Infowars' parent company,
Free Speech Systems.
Jones said the settlement was an effort to dismiss his appeals.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez of the Southern District of
Texas stated in a Wednesday hearing that the families and Chapter 7
trustee Christopher Murray could either try to resolve issues in state
court or return with another settlement proposal.
The denial is the next step in Jones' ongoing bankruptcy case, which
initially resulted in Free Speech System and its assets being auctioned
off to help pay the nearly $1.4 billion in damages he owes to the families
of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Connecticut. Twenty children and six staff members were killed in the
attack.
Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Connecticut families, said in a
statement Wednesday that "whatever steps the families take next, their determination to enforce every penny of judgments against Alex Jones will
not change."
'That day was really hard': How America’s schools have changed since
deadliest mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary
Judge: 'I'm not allowing a sale of the assets anymore'
Jones was found guilty of defamation by judges in Texas and Connecticut
after using his platform to spread misinformation that the shooting was a
hoax and claiming the families were "paid crisis actors."
Lopez gave the order for the auction in September. Murray named a joint
bid between satirical news outlet The Onion and the Connecticut families
as auction winners in November. First United American Companies, which has business ties with Jones, was designated the backup bidder.
In December, Lopez blocked that joint bid, saying the auction process was unfair, lacked transparency and the joint bid was questionable. Since
then, First United American Companies has more than doubled its original
$3.5 million offer to purchase Infowars' assets.
Lopez told Murray on Wednesday that he's no longer authorized to sell
Infowars' assets and vacated the September order that detailed terms of
the auction. Murray and the families had tried to use the order as justification to open claims against Free Speech Systems, which Lopez said could not be done as the order had already served its intended purpose.
Murray is now only authorized to sell Infowars' equity.
"I'm not allowing a sale of the assets anymore, pure sale of the equity,"
Lopez said. "This case keeps taking twists and turns and trying to come up
with really masterful, creative lawyering. But at its core, it's something
I can't approve. I'm really trying to do what I think is my duty and my
job upon careful analysis of the law. And so, I'm not approving. I
cannot."
Lopez also said since Free Speech Systems' bankruptcy case was dismissed
last year, disputes with the company cannot take place in his courtroom
and should be pursued in state court.
Lopez has said previously that he wants the more than 2½-year-long case to
be wrapped up in 2025, but it remains to be seen what will happen to
Infowars' equity.
--
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.
The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
eradicated.
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
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