Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones'latest bankruptcy plan would pay Sandy Hook school families a minimum total of $55 million over 10 years, a small fraction of the $1.5 billion awarded to the relatives in lawsuits against Jones for calling the 2012 Newtown shooting a hoax. The families have filed their own proposal seeking to liquidate nearly all of Jones’ assets, including his media company Free Speech Systems, and give the proceeds to them and other creditors. The dueling plans, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, will be debated over the next two months, with hearings scheduled for February that will result in a final order saying how much Jones will have to pay out, reports the Associated Press.
Jones and Free Speech Systems, based in Austin, Tex., sought bankruptcy last year as the families were awarded more than $1.4 billion in a Connecticut lawsuit and another $50 million in a Texas lawsuit. A third case is pending in Texas in a similar lawsuit over Jones’ hoax conspiracy filed by parents of another child killed in the school shooting. The new bankruptcy filings came a day after the 11th anniversary of a gunman’s killing 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012. Victims' relatives sued Jones in Connecticut for defamation and infliction of emotional distress for claiming the school shooting never happened and was staged by “crisis actors” in a plot to increase gun control. Eight victim relatives and an FBI agent testified about being threatened and harassed for years by people who deny the shooting happened. Strangers showed up at some of their homes and confronted them in public. People made abusive comments about them on social media and in emails. Some received death and rape threats. Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut attorney for the families, said Jones’ proposal “falls woefully short” of providing what the families are entitled to under bankruptcy laws. Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion award and says his comments about the shooting were protected by free speech rights.