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Tag: Infowars

  • Justice Department questions retired FBI agent’s role in $1.4 billion Sandy Hook lawsuit

    A senior U.S. Justice Department official sent a letter to a lawyer for relatives of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, asking pointed questions about a retired FBI agent’s involvement in a defamation lawsuit that led to a $1.4 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.Ed Martin Jr., who leads the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” asked in the letter whether retired agent William Aldenberg received any financial benefits from helping to organize the lawsuit, in which he was a plaintiff along with victims’ family members.Aldenberg, like the parents and other relatives of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, has been the subject of false conspiracy theories spread by Jones on his “Infowars” broadcasts.Aldenberg was among the law enforcement officers who responded to the school and found the dead children. That then led to years of abuse from people who believed the shooting was a hoax, he has said. His share of the judgment totaled around $120 million.Martin sends lawyer letter asking about retired agentIn a Sept. 15 letter to Christopher Mattei, a lawyer who represents Sandy Hook families, Martin suggested he was scrutinizing Aldenberg’s role in the lawsuit.“As you may know, there are criminal laws protecting the citizens from actions by government employees who may be acting for personal benefit,” Martin wrote.Mattei responded to the letter in a text message to The Associated Press.“Thanks to the courage of the Sandy Hook families, Infowars will soon be finished,” he said, referring to the families’ efforts in court to liquidate Jones’ assets to help pay the judgment. “In his last gasps, Jones is once again harassing them, only now with the corrupt complicity of at least one DOJ official. It’s as disgusting as it is pathetic, and we will not stand for it.”The Justice Department said it had no immediate comment Tuesday.Martin, who has been examining President Donald Trump’s claims of anti-conservative bias inside the Justice Department, has sent letters to a host of targets in other, unrelated matters, seeking information or making appeals, but it’s unclear whether such requests have amounted to anything.Jones posted a copy of the letter on his X account Tuesday, saying “Breaking! The DOJ’s Task Force On Government Weaponization Against The American People Has Launched An Investigation Into The Democrat Party / FBI Directing Illegal Law-fare Against Alex Jones And Infowars.”Retired agent testified at the trialAldenberg joined the relatives of eight Sandy Hook victims in suing Jones, alleging defamation and infliction of emotional distress.Aldenberg was one of the first witnesses to testify at the trial in 2022. He broke down on the witness stand as he described entering the two classrooms where children and educators were shot.He also testified about how he and others in the community and law enforcement were targeted with threats and conspiracy theories, including one that claimed he was an actor who also pretended to be the father of a victim.Messages were left at a phone listing and email addresses listed for Aldenberg in public records.Relatives of the shooting victims testified that they were subjected to violent threats, in-person harassment and abusive comments on social media because of Jones.Martin has been serving as head of the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group” since his nomination for top federal prosecutor in Washington was pulled amid bipartisan concerns about his modest legal experience and his advocacy for Jan. 6 rioters.Attorney General Pam Bondi created the group to scrutinize matters in which conservatives have claimed they were unfairly targeted or treated.Martin was also recently named a special prosecutor to help conduct the separate mortgage fraud investigations into Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff.In his letter to Mattei, he asked for several pieces of information and requested that the lawyer respond by Sept. 29.In the letter, Martin asks Mattei to keep the correspondence confidential because “I do not wish to litigate this in the media.” On Sept. 14, Jones posted a photo on his X account of him and Martin together, saying the two met in Washington, D.C.Jones recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of the $1.4 billion judgment. He also is appealing a $49 million judgment in a similar lawsuit in Texas filed by two other parents of children killed in Newtown. He has cited free speech rights, but he has acknowledged that the shooting was “100% real.”Jones claims Democrats have been targeting him for his speech.He filed for bankruptcy in late 2022. The Sandy Hook plaintiffs are now trying to liquidate Infowars’ assets in state court proceedings in Texas.

    A senior U.S. Justice Department official sent a letter to a lawyer for relatives of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, asking pointed questions about a retired FBI agent’s involvement in a defamation lawsuit that led to a $1.4 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

    Ed Martin Jr., who leads the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” asked in the letter whether retired agent William Aldenberg received any financial benefits from helping to organize the lawsuit, in which he was a plaintiff along with victims’ family members.

    Aldenberg, like the parents and other relatives of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, has been the subject of false conspiracy theories spread by Jones on his “Infowars” broadcasts.

    Aldenberg was among the law enforcement officers who responded to the school and found the dead children. That then led to years of abuse from people who believed the shooting was a hoax, he has said. His share of the judgment totaled around $120 million.

    Martin sends lawyer letter asking about retired agent

    In a Sept. 15 letter to Christopher Mattei, a lawyer who represents Sandy Hook families, Martin suggested he was scrutinizing Aldenberg’s role in the lawsuit.

    “As you may know, there are criminal laws protecting the citizens from actions by government employees who may be acting for personal benefit,” Martin wrote.

    Mattei responded to the letter in a text message to The Associated Press.

    “Thanks to the courage of the Sandy Hook families, Infowars will soon be finished,” he said, referring to the families’ efforts in court to liquidate Jones’ assets to help pay the judgment. “In his last gasps, Jones is once again harassing them, only now with the corrupt complicity of at least one DOJ official. It’s as disgusting as it is pathetic, and we will not stand for it.”

    The Justice Department said it had no immediate comment Tuesday.

    Martin, who has been examining President Donald Trump’s claims of anti-conservative bias inside the Justice Department, has sent letters to a host of targets in other, unrelated matters, seeking information or making appeals, but it’s unclear whether such requests have amounted to anything.

    Jones posted a copy of the letter on his X account Tuesday, saying “Breaking! The DOJ’s Task Force On Government Weaponization Against The American People Has Launched An Investigation Into The Democrat Party / FBI Directing Illegal Law-fare Against Alex Jones And Infowars.”

    Retired agent testified at the trial

    Aldenberg joined the relatives of eight Sandy Hook victims in suing Jones, alleging defamation and infliction of emotional distress.

    Aldenberg was one of the first witnesses to testify at the trial in 2022. He broke down on the witness stand as he described entering the two classrooms where children and educators were shot.

    He also testified about how he and others in the community and law enforcement were targeted with threats and conspiracy theories, including one that claimed he was an actor who also pretended to be the father of a victim.

    Messages were left at a phone listing and email addresses listed for Aldenberg in public records.

    Relatives of the shooting victims testified that they were subjected to violent threats, in-person harassment and abusive comments on social media because of Jones.

    Martin has been serving as head of the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group” since his nomination for top federal prosecutor in Washington was pulled amid bipartisan concerns about his modest legal experience and his advocacy for Jan. 6 rioters.

    Attorney General Pam Bondi created the group to scrutinize matters in which conservatives have claimed they were unfairly targeted or treated.

    Martin was also recently named a special prosecutor to help conduct the separate mortgage fraud investigations into Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff.

    In his letter to Mattei, he asked for several pieces of information and requested that the lawyer respond by Sept. 29.

    In the letter, Martin asks Mattei to keep the correspondence confidential because “I do not wish to litigate this in the media.” On Sept. 14, Jones posted a photo on his X account of him and Martin together, saying the two met in Washington, D.C.

    Jones recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of the $1.4 billion judgment. He also is appealing a $49 million judgment in a similar lawsuit in Texas filed by two other parents of children killed in Newtown. He has cited free speech rights, but he has acknowledged that the shooting was “100% real.”

    Jones claims Democrats have been targeting him for his speech.

    He filed for bankruptcy in late 2022. The Sandy Hook plaintiffs are now trying to liquidate Infowars’ assets in state court proceedings in Texas.

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  • (Media News) Alex Jones’ Infowars to be Auctioned Off to Pay $1 Billion Sandy Hook Judgment

    (Media News) Alex Jones’ Infowars to be Auctioned Off to Pay $1 Billion Sandy Hook Judgment

    Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars media platform will be sold in auctions to help pay over $1 billion owed to Sandy Hook victims’ families. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said he would approve the auctions starting in November, following the liquidation of Jones’ bankruptcy. A trustee will control all assets of Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company.

    Jones plans to continue his shows. He suggested that supporters might buy Infowars’ assets, allowing him to work under the brand. He also said, “The assets… can be sold,” and mentioned potential “patriot buyers.”

    Jones filed for bankruptcy after losing nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits over his claims that the 2012 school shooting was a hoax. Parents of victims testified about being harassed by Jones’ followers.

    The auctions will include Infowars’ intellectual property and equipment. Meanwhile, the Sandy Hook families seek control over Jones’ personal social media accounts and future earnings. The legal battle over Jones’ assets, including claims of a $50 million debt to another Jones-owned company, remains unresolved.

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  • Alex Jones Makes Low-Ball Offer to Sandy Hook Families: $55 Million Over A Decade

    Alex Jones Makes Low-Ball Offer to Sandy Hook Families: $55 Million Over A Decade

    Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is proposing to pay pennies on the dollar—just 4%—of the $1.4 billion owed to the Sandy Hook families who successfully sued him for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress after he repeatedly claimed the 2012 Newtown school massacre was a hoax using “crisis actors” to boost gun control legislation.

    The proposal, filed Friday night in a Houston bankruptcy court, would have Jones pay $55 million over ten years. It came just a day after the 11th anniversary of the Connecticut mass shooting, which took the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators.

    The families filed a competing payment plan in court, seeking to liquidate all of Jones’ assets and distribute them among the families. While Jones’ plan would allow him to be released of his debt after a decade, the family’s plan would not, effectively ensuring that Jones would have to continue to pay out parts of the judgment for the rest of his life.

    Jones declared bankruptcy in late 2022, citing the extent of the damages, but a judge ruled in October that Jones couldn’t use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying families, and was still liable for $1.1 billion of the original punishment. Jones is still appealing the original judgment.

    “Today is the first time Mr. Jones has publicly shared his plan to be accountable for the harm he’s caused these families,” Avi Moshenberg, a lawyer representing victims’ family members who sued Jones in Texas, told The New York Times. “We’re very focused on the families receiving what is fair, and will share our review of Jones’s plan in due time.”

    Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut attorney representing the families, said Jones’ proposal “falls woefully short” of what his clients are entitled to under the law. “The families’ plan is the only feasible path for ensuring that Jones’ assets are quickly distributed to those he has harassed for more than a decade,” he said in a statement Saturday.

    Jones spent years profiting off lies about the shooting while grieving families of the victims faced death threats as Infowars, Jones’ fake news company, raked in millions of dollars.

    As the bankruptcy proceedings drag on, families have pointed to Jones’ opulent post-bankruptcy lifestyle, with reports showing the conspiracist spending $100,000 a month. In a filing in bankruptcy court last month, the families argued that Jones “has refused to adhere to a reasonable budget.”

    A Texas judge is expected to hold hearings in late February to determine a final bankruptcy plan.

    Last week, Elon Musk reinstated Jones’ account on Twitter, formerly X. In an appearance on an X livestream hosted by Musk, Jones continued to deny responsibility for the harassment and abuse experienced by the Sandy Hook families, insisting that he was just playing “devil’s advocate” in his comments on the shooting.

    Jack McCordick

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  • Alex Jones Offers To Pay Sandy Hook Families $55 Million For Lies He Spread About Shooting

    Alex Jones Offers To Pay Sandy Hook Families $55 Million For Lies He Spread About Shooting

    Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ latest bankruptcy plan would pay Sandy Hook families a minimum total of $55 million over 10 years, a fraction of the $1.5 billion awarded to the relatives in lawsuits against Jones for calling the 2012 Newtown school shooting a hoax.

    The families, meanwhile, 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 late Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, will be debated and challenged 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.

    Jones and Free Speech Systems, based in Austin, Texas, both filed for 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 trial is pending in Texas in a similar lawsuit over Jones’ hoax conspiracy filed by the 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 of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.

    Relatives of some of the victims 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 victims’ relatives and an FBI agent testified during a monthlong trial in late 2022 about being threatened and harassed for years by people who deny the shooting happened. Strangers showed up at some of their homes and confronted some of them in public. People hurled abusive comments at them on social media and in emails. Some received death and rape threats.

    Jones’ lawyers did not immediately respond to email messages Saturday.

    Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said Jones’ proposal “falls woefully short” of providing everything the families are entitled to under bankruptcy laws.

    “The families’ plan is the only feasible path for ensuring that Jones’ assets are quickly distributed to those he has harassed for more than a decade,” Mattei said in a statement Saturday.

    Jones’ new proposal to settle with the families for at least $5.5 million a year for 10 years doesn’t appear to offer much more than what Free Speech Systems offered them in its bankruptcy case last month. He also would give them percentages of his income streams.

    Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Jones’ Infowars show, proposed to pay creditors about $4 million a year, down from an estimate earlier this year of $7 million to $10 million annually.

    The company said it expected to make about $19.2 million next year from selling the dietary supplements, clothing and other merchandise Jones promotes on his shows, while operating expenses including salaries would total about $14.3 million.

    Personally, Jones listed about $13 million in total assets in recent financial statements filed with the bankruptcy court, including about $856,000 in various bank accounts. A judge recently gave Jones approval to sell some of his assets, including guns, vehicles and jewelry to raise money for creditors.

    The families’ plan would set up a trust that would liquidate nearly all of Jones’ assets, except his primary home and other holdings considered exempt from sale under bankruptcy laws. The trust would have sweeping powers, including authority to recoup money that Jones has paid and given others if those transfers were not allowed by law.

    The families have been complaining about Jones’ personal spending, which topped $90,000 a month this year. They also have another pending lawsuit claiming Jones hid millions of dollars in an attempt to protect his wealth. One of Jones’ lawyers has called the allegations “ridiculous.”

    Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in lawsuit awards to the families and has insisted his comments about the shooting were protected by free speech rights.

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  • Elon Musk brings Alex Jones and Infowars back on X after user poll | TechCrunch

    Elon Musk brings Alex Jones and Infowars back on X after user poll | TechCrunch

    Elon Musk has restored the X accounts of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his media site Infowars. The X accounts of Jones and Infowars were “permanently banned” from Twitter by the previous management in 2018 for posting abusive content and violating the platform’s rules.

    Musk ran a user poll on X on December 9 asking whether it was appropriate to bring Alex Jones back to the platform. Nearly 2 million people voted, with about 70% saying Jones’ account should be restored. Hours after the poll ended, the company reactivated Jones’ account. The Infowars account had also been restored at the time of publication.

    After Musk posted the poll, he agreed with a user calling permanent account bans “antithetical to free speech.” Musk said, “I find it hard to disagree with this point.”

    When a user pointed out concerns about misinformation on the platform as a result of restoring Jones’ account, Musk pointed to Community Notes and said those part of that program will “respond rapidly to any AJ post that needs correction.”

    Jones has been infamous for peddling conspiracies about the Sandy Hook school shooting, which took place in 2012 and claimed 28 lives. The conspiracy theorist was sued, and had to take a stand in court for purporting that the shooting was staged. A court in Connecticut ordered Jones to pay $1.5 billion in damages last year.

    Musk’s move comes amid X struggling to maintain some of the largest advertisers on the platform. Notable companies including Apple, Disney, and IBM stopped ad spending on the social network after Musk called an antisemitic theory the “actual truth.”

    He later offered a clarification and apologized for his comment and called it “foolish.” But he wasn’t pleased with those who had stopped adverting on X. At the DealBook conference, Tesla CEO told advertisers to “go fuck yourself” during a conversation with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.

    “If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself,” Musk said. “Go. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear?”

    He also called out Disney’s Bog Iger, who also spoke at the conference. In the same interview, Musk said the advertising boycott was going to “kill the company” and those boycotting would be responsible for the firm’s eventual death.

    Restoring accounts of Jones and Infowars may raise more eyebrows and irk advertisers and others monitoring hate speech. Responding to a user, the X owner admitted that the restoration could be bad for the platform financially but “principles matter more than money.”

    After Musk took over X, he has restored many controversial figures including singer Kanye West, former U.S. President Donald Trump, far-right influencer Andrew Tate, and right-wing academic Jordan Peterson.

    Ivan Mehta

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  • Infowars Host Owen Shroyer Set To Plead Guilty In Jan. 6 Capitol Riot Case

    Infowars Host Owen Shroyer Set To Plead Guilty In Jan. 6 Capitol Riot Case

    A host of the conspiracy network Infowars is expected to plead guilty to at least one charge related to his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

    Owen Shroyer is expected to plead guilty Friday in Washington, D.C., according to a Tuesday order scheduling the change-of-plea hearing.

    Shroyer, a longtime host of Infowars and right-hand man to the outlet’s owner, Alex Jones, was charged with four misdemeanor counts in August 2021 for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6. The latest order doesn’t indicate which charges ― including a charge of disorderly conduct ― Shroyer plans to plead guilty to.

    Shroyer was captured on video that was later posted to Infowars showing him in restricted areas of the Capitol grounds, according to charging documents. Shroyer also called into an Infowars live broadcast while on the Capitol grounds and said “probably about 100,000 people” had surrounded the Capitol.

    “We literally own these streets right now,” Shroyer said on the broadcast.

    Owen Shroyer, an InfoWars host and sometimes reporter who is a frequent guest on “The Alex Jones Show,” testifies in court Friday, July 29, 2022, at the Travis County Courthouse in Texas.

    After Shroyer was eventually charged, he took to Infowars to declare his innocence.

    “There’s a lot of questions — some I have answers to, some I don’t,” Shroyer told viewers at the time. “I plan on declaring innocence of these charges because I am.”

    Shroyer has played an integral role in Infowars over the years, including his participation in Jones’ sick lie that the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut never happened. Jones has been ordered to pay more than $1 billion for those lies.

    Along with Shroyer, Infowars video editor Sam Montoya was also charged with and later pleaded guilty to breaching the Capitol.

    A February bankruptcy filing for Jones revealed he was holding guns for Shroyer and Montoya while they faced the charges.

    “Both their lawyers respectively asked us if they could store those guns here while the cases were going on,” Jones told HuffPost at the time. “Due to the request of their lawyers we have … stored the guns here.”

    Shroyer is being represented by Norm Pattis, a Connecticut lawyer who has previously represented Jones and members of Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist gang. Last year, Pattis was captured on video saying the N-word during a comedy routine.

    Pattis did not return a request for comment.

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  • The Kid Who Crashed The Game Awards Has A History Of Trolling

    The Kid Who Crashed The Game Awards Has A History Of Trolling

    A kid at the 2022 Game Awards nominates Bill Clinton in the latest internet-pilled viral prank.

    Screenshot: The Game Awards / Kotaku

    Academy Award winner Al Pacino may have opened the 2022 Game Awards, a night of industry recognition and expensive marketing for the biggest games around, but it was a new type of internet celebrity who closed it out. “I want to nominate this award to my reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton,” said a young kid with long hair who appeared onstage suddenly after Elden Ring was crowned Game of the Year. He was wearing an ill-fitting coat, sneaking up on stage behind the the Elden Ring development team.

    Security followed, and chaos ensued online as everyone tried to figure out what the hell had just happened during host Geoff Keighley’s otherwise heavily orchestrated three-hour event. But this was far from the first time the young man, whose name Kotaku believes to be Matan Even, had sprung to brief internet fame through internet-pilled trolling, even if it might have been his weirdest.

    After the ceremony finished, Keighley tweeted that the “individual who interrupted” the event had been arrested. Five hours later, however, Even was already tweeting. “Today there is a lot of talk, and speculation,” he wrote. “More information will be released on all fronts sooner than later.”

    When asked about what transpired after the incident, the LAPD media relations office contradicted Keighley’s account, saying a report had been taken but no arrest was made. When asked to square that, a spokesperson for The Game Awards provided a more detailed account.

    G/O Media may get a commission

    They said Even was taken to a “secure area” inside the Microsoft Theater by TGA security staff where he was then questioned by venue security as well as “TGA-hired onsite LAPD officers.” They said he was then taken into custody and transported to a local police station for booking by the TGA-hired LAPD officers in their patrol vehicle. When asked about that version of events, a representative from the LAPD would only confirm that the individual had been transported to a station. Since no arrest was made, it’s unclear how long he was held for questioning.

    While this may be the first time Even risked arrest, it was far from his first publicity stunt. Before stealthing his way on stage at one of the gaming industry’s biggest events of the year in front of an audience of over a million people, Even crashed a BlizzCon panel, went viral for pranking the L.A. Clippers fan cam, and appeared on right-wing conspiracy show Infowars at least twice.

    The Clippers stunt came in October 2019. Amid the Hong Kong protests, Even momentarily appeared on the fan cam at the team’s home stadium, only to immediately hold up a black t-shirt that read, “Fight for Freedom Stand with Hong Kong.” China had blacklisted the Houston Rockets after their general manager tweeted out a picture of the same t-shirt just a couple of weeks earlier.

    The next month, Even interrupted a BlizzCon 2019 panel with a similar message in support of the Hong Kong protests. Blizzard had suspended Overwatch pro Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai the prior month for doing the same, and along with the NBA and other companies, came under fire at the time for its failure to stand up for Hong Kong’s democratic protesters.

    As Motherboard points out, this made Even a ripe target to be co-opted by right-wing political actors who saw the opportunity to attack seeming liberal hypocrisy on the issue. But Even was also apparently already a big fan of at least one of Infowars’ hosts, Owen Shroyer. He said as much in a 2019 appearance, calling Shroyer his “favorite person on Infowars,” while in a second appearance in 2020 Shroyer called Even “one of the young stars of the conservative movement.”

    While Even’s own social media activity appears to be almost exclusively concerned with the Hong Kong protests and censorship by the Chinese government, his journey from protester to Infowars guest is also a perfect example of the ambiently reactionary online pipeline that can lead one from Googling political issues to ending up on right-wing content channels. (Even was seemingly 12 during his first Infowars appearance.) It’s also a reason why some were quick to interpret his nonsensical remarks about Bill Clinton and Orthodox Judaism as potentially antisimetic.

    Prior to last night, Even’s last tweets were from March 2021 and were about concerns over the rise in hate crimes toward Asian Americans. Infowars, meanwhile, has seen founder Alex Jones successfully sued for hundreds of millions by the parents of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims. Most recently, however, the site tried to hold court with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who used the appearance to praise Hitler, a heel turn that comes amid a larger wave of antisemitism in conservative circles.

    It was in front of that backdrop that some worried Even’s stunt was secretly some racist 4Chan deepcut. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who interviewed Even earlier today, said he appeared to understand Hebrew, and called him “almost certainly a Jewish prankster.”

    He’s also disavowing his previous Infowars appearances, even while continuing his trolling in messages with other journalists.

    “I never was an avid viewer [of Infowars] nor am I now,” he told Motherboard. He reportedly went on to call Clinton “a true inspiration, especially in the gaming space.”

                     

    Ethan Gach

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  • Alex Jones files for personal bankruptcy; owes nearly $1.5 billion to Sandy Hook families for hoax lies

    Alex Jones files for personal bankruptcy; owes nearly $1.5 billion to Sandy Hook families for hoax lies

    Infowars host Alex Jones filed for personal bankruptcy protection Friday in Texas, citing debts that include nearly $1.5 billion he has been ordered to pay to families who sued him over his conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre.

    Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Houston. His filing listed $1 billion to $10 billion in liabilities and $1 million to $10 million in assets.

    Jones acknowledged the filing on his Infowars broadcast, saying the case will prove that he’s broke, and asking viewers to shop on his website to help keep the show on the air.

    “I’m officially out of money, personally,” Jones said. “It’s all going to be filed. It’s all going to be public. And you will see that Alex Jones has almost no cash.”

    Newtown Shooting-Infowars
    FILE – Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones takes the witness stand to testify at the Sandy Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.

    Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP


    Jones, who sells dietary supplements and other items on his Infowars site, and promotes them during his shows, said he would not be commenting further on the bankruptcy.

    For years, Jones described the 2012 massacre as a hoax. A Connecticut jury in October awarded victims’ families $965 million in compensatory damages, and a judge later tacked on another $473 million in punitive damages. Earlier in the year, a Texas jury awarded the parents of a child killed in the shooting $49 million in damages.

    The bankruptcy filing temporarily halted all proceedings in the Connecticut case. A judge was forced to cancel a hearing scheduled for Friday on the Sandy Hook families’ request to secure the assets of Jones and his company to help pay the more than $1.4 billion in damages awarded there.

    Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families in the Connecticut case, criticized the bankruptcy filing.

    “Like every other cowardly move Alex Jones has made, this bankruptcy will not work,” Mattei said in a statement. “The bankruptcy system does not protect anyone who engages in intentional and egregious attacks on others, as Mr. Jones did. The American judicial system will hold Alex Jones accountable, and we will never stop working to enforce the jury’s verdict.”

    An attorney representing Jones in the bankruptcy case did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

    In the Texas and Connecticut cases, some relatives of the 20 children and six adults killed in the school shooting testified that they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’ show. One parent testified that conspiracy theorists urinated on his 7-year-old son’s grave and threatened to dig up the coffin.

    Newtown Commemorates One Month Anniversary Of Elementary School Massacre
    Photos of Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims sits at a small memorial in Newtown, Connecticut, just a month after the 2012 shooting. 

    John Moore / Getty Images


    Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, testified that people mailed rape threats to her house.

    Jones has laughed at the awards on his Infowars show, saying he has less than $2 million to his name and won’t be able to pay such high amounts. Those comments contradicted the testimony of a forensic economist at the Texas trial, who said Jones and his company Free Speech Systems have a combined net worth as high as $270 million. Free Speech Systems is also seeking bankruptcy protection.

    In documents filed in July in Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy case in Texas, a budget for the company for Nov. 26 to Dec. 23 estimated product sales will total nearly $3 million, while operating expenses will be nearly $739,000. Jones’ salary is listed at $20,000 every two weeks.

    Sandy Hook families have alleged in another lawsuit in Texas that Jones hid millions of dollars in assets after victims’ relatives began taking him to court. Jones’ lawyer denied the allegation.

    A third trial over Jones’ comments on Sandy Hook is expected to begin within the next two months in Texas, in a lawsuit brought by the parents of another child killed in the shooting.

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  • Full-Faced Black Hood™ Drops Kanye West As Celebrity Spokesperson

    Full-Faced Black Hood™ Drops Kanye West As Celebrity Spokesperson

    Image for article titled Full-Faced Black Hood™ Drops Kanye West As Celebrity Spokesperson

    NEW YORK—In response to the rapper’s recent antisemitic comments during his appearance on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars show, head-covering company Full-Faced Black Hood™ announced Friday it had ended its partnership with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. “We have taken the decision to terminate Ye’s sponsorship of our face-covering headwear, effective immediately,” said Full-Faced Black Hood™ CEO Greg Cullinan, who added that Ye’s recent rhetoric and actions had been unacceptable and dangerous, violating the values of tolerance and inclusion that a company making black stretchy hoods that completely cover the face take very seriously. “We’ve been a family company for over 75 years, actually having been at the forefront of obscuring the faces of anti-Nazis for decades, and therefore, we can no longer in good conscience work with Mr. West. We hope this sends a powerful message to the world that antisemitism and bigotry have no place in a Full-Faced Black Hood™.” Cullinan added that while company executives strongly condemned Mr. West’s hateful comments, they asked that everyone please note how crystal clear his voice sounded when coming through one of their high-quality full-faced hoods.

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  • Hammer falls on Kanye West after he praises Hitler, posts swastika – National | Globalnews.ca

    Hammer falls on Kanye West after he praises Hitler, posts swastika – National | Globalnews.ca

    There’s no going back for Kanye West now, observers wrote on Twitter in the wake of his damning interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday afternoon.

    The controversial rapper and 2024 U.S. presidential candidate is facing widespread rebuke for espousing antisemitic hate on Jones’ Infowars podcast and then later doubling down by tweeting an image of a swastika within the Star of David.

    The latter stunt led to the rapper, who has legally changed his name to Ye, being suspended from Twitter, though leading voices in the Jewish Canadian community say the damage has already been done. Before being removed from the platform, Ye had more than 30 million Twitter followers, more than twice the estimated population of Jewish people in the world.

    Read more:

    Adidas latest company to cut ties with Kanye West over ‘dangerous’ antisemitic comments

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    Bernie Farber, chair of the Anti-Hate Network and former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, warned that Ye is dangerously normalizing antisemitism and that his words may lead to an uptick in violence against the Jewish community in Canada.

    “Antisemitism has reached heights that are so dangerous that in my almost 40 years now of dealing with antisemitism, I have never seen anything quite like it,” Farber told Global News.

    “I believe that we are going to see, as a result of Kanye West’s hateful actions, we will see violent words turned into violent actions.”

    Read more:

    Jewish communities on edge amid ‘troubling rise’ of anti-Semitism in Canada

    How did we get here?


    Kanye West during an Infowars livestream on December 1, 2022.

    Infowars/Banned Video/Global News

    Even before Ye appeared on Jones’ Infowars podcast and lit up the Internet by explicitly praising Hitler, he was already in hot water over numerous antisemitic comments which led to a prior suspension from Twitter and Instagram.

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    The rapper and fashion designer claimed that he even lost US$2 billion in one day after brands Gap, Adidas and Balenciaga cut partnership ties with him when he spread antisemitic tropes and hate online and to the press. In the midst of the backlash, Ye announced he was running for U.S. president in 2024 with known white supremacist Nick Fuentes and alt-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos on his campaign team.

    Read more:

    Kanye West announces 2024 presidential campaign

    These events set the stage for Ye’s fateful interview with Jones on Thursday afternoon where he infamously said, “I like Hitler.”

    Even Jones, who currently owes hundreds of millions of dollars to the parents of Sandy Hook victims after spreading a conspiracy theory that the mass shooting was a hoax, seemed taken aback by Ye’s comments.

    Read more:

    Infowars’ Alex Jones ordered to pay US$473M more to Sandy Hook families

    “You’re not a Nazi, you don’t deserve to be called that and demonized,” Jones said, offering the rapper some cover.

    “Well,” Ye replied, “I see good things about Hitler, also.” (The rapper, wearing a full black face mask, was also joined by Fuentes on the program.)

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    “The Jewish media has made us feel like the Nazis and Hitler have never offered anything of value to the world,” Ye said at one point during the interview. “But [the Nazis] did good things too. We gotta stop dissing the Nazis all the time.”


    Kanye West, Alex Jones, and Nick Fuentes during an Infowars livestream on December 1, 2022.

    Infowars/Banned Video/Global News

    Clips of Ye’s statements immediately went viral on social media platforms, boosting his hateful comments to even more eyes and ears, though the majority of those reacting denounced the rapper.

    Trending Now

    Trending Now

    Later on Thursday, Ye went even further by tweeting an image of a swastika, a Nazi emblem, inside the Star of David, an important symbol of Jewish identity. His tweet was blocked as a violation of Twitter’s rules and Ye was later suspended from the platform for “incitement to violence.”

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    Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist” and is overhauling the platform’s policies on hate speech, directly addressed Ye’s inflammatory posts.

    Read more:

    Twitter to provide ‘general amnesty’ to suspended accounts starting next week: Elon Musk

    Before he was suspended, Ye tweeted a picture of a shirtless Musk and suggested that this post would be his last on the site. Musk responded “That is fine,” to the tweet. In a reply to Ye’s Star of David image, Musk wrote, “This is not.” It’s unclear how long Ye’s suspension on Twitter will last.

    Many of Ye’s former fans have turned their back on the rapper, and the r/Kanye subreddit, which once celebrated Ye, has now been flooded with posts raising awareness about the Holocaust.

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    Jewish Canadians denounce Ye

    The reaction against Ye from the Jewish Canadian community has been swift and a number of organizations have publicly denounced Ye as an antisemite.

    B’nai Brith Canada called Ye’s remarks on Jones’ podcast, “dangerous, harmful, and disturbing,” calling the rapper a “vile antisemite.”

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    In a statement to Global News, Aaron Lakoff, media and communications lead for Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada said Ye’s praise of Adolf Hitler, who oversaw the Nazi genocide of Jewish people, was “reprehensible and vile.”

    “They are unfortunately indicative of the persistence of far-right fascism at the highest levels of American society,” Lakoff wrote. “We know that such views have permeated Canadian society as well, and Jewish Canadians have every reason to be concerned and angry.”

    Jewish people remain the religious group most targeted by police-reported hate crimes in Canada, according to a 2021 Stats Canada report. Hate crimes directed towards Jewish people rose 47 per cent from 2020 to 2021, to a total of 487 incidents, the report shows.

    Read more:

    Anti-Semitic attack leaves Calgarians shaken; rabbi encourages people to speak out

    According to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Jewish Canadians make up one per cent of the population and yet account for 14 per cent of all hate crimes, as reported by Canadian Jewish News.

    Anti-Hate Network chair Farber says he has seen a massive wave of antisemitism recently, which he says is leaving Jewish people fearing for their safety. Farber pointed out that numerous other celebrities and politicians have come under fire recently for platforming antisemitic views, such as Kyrie Irving of the NBA and comedian Dave Chappelle on Saturday Night Live.

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    Earlier this week, a man accused of being a Holocaust denier, Nazih Khatatba, was present at a Parliament Hill reception celebrating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, leading to backlash from multiple MPs.

    Read more:

    Irving Abella, who documented Canada’s refusal of Jewish refugees in WWII, dies at 82

    Farber says he fears that antisemitism and Holocaust denial are becoming normalized in everyday conversation as a result. “I mean, if genocide gets normalized, we as a society are in dire, dire trouble,” he told Global News.

    Farber points to social media as a driving factor behind this recent surge in antisemitism, because it allows fringe opinions to reach millions of eyes with ease — especially if they are helped along by celebrities with large followings like Ye.

    Farber noted that the mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue that killed 11 people in 2018 was in part driven by online radicalization, as was a similar attack on a Quebec City mosque in 2017.

    A day before Ye’s Infowars interview, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a terrorism advisory bulletin that addressed rising violence against minorities, which noted that there is an “enduring threat” against Jewish people by American extremists.

    In response to media questions about Ye’s antisemitism, a DHS spokesperson said that celebrities and officials who espouse conspiracy theories can serve to incite violence, NBC reported.

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    “Certainly the Jewish community seems particularly targeted in recent days by that kind of activity in our discourse,” the official said.

    Farber is pushing for a stronger denunciation of antisemitism from Canada’s politicians and community leaders, and for governments to take substantive action to stem religious persecution.

    “But we’ve learned as a people that there will always be Kanye Wests in the world,” Farber said. “The Kanye Wests come and go, and the Jewish people are still here.”


    Click to play video: 'How will Trump’s dinner with Kanye West, Nick Fuentes impact his presidential ambitions?'


    How will Trump’s dinner with Kanye West, Nick Fuentes impact his presidential ambitions?




    Kathryn Mannie

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  • Alex Jones Seeks New Trial After $1B Sandy Hook Verdict

    Alex Jones Seeks New Trial After $1B Sandy Hook Verdict

    HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a Connecticut judge to throw out a nearly $1 billion verdict against him and order a new trial in a lawsuit by Sandy Hook families, who say they were subjected to harassment and threats from Jones’ lies about the 2012 Newtown school shooting.

    Jones filed the requests Friday, saying Judge Barbara Bellis’ pretrial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and “a substantial miscarriage of justice.”

    “Additionally, the amount of the compensatory damages award exceeds any rational relationship to the evidence offered at trial,” Jones’ lawyers, Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith, wrote in the motion.

    Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the 15 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Jones, declined to comment on the filing Saturday, but said he and other attorneys for the Sandy Hook families will be filing a brief opposing Jones’ request.

    Twenty first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School died in the attack on Dec. 14, 2012.

    An FBI agent who responded to the shooting and relatives of eight children and adults killed in the massacre sued Jones for defamation and infliction of emotional distress over his pushing the bogus narrative that the shooting was a hoax staged by “crisis actors” to impose more gun control.

    Six jurors in Waterbury, Connecticut, ordered Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, on Oct. 12 to pay $965 million in compensatory damages to the plaintiffs and said punitive damages also should be awarded. Bellis has scheduled hearings for early next month to determine the amount of the punitive damages.

    During the trial, victims’ relatives said in often-emotional testimony that they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’ show. Strangers showed up at the families’ homes to record them and confronted them in public. People hurled abusive comments on social media. Relatives said they received death and rape threats.

    The verdicts came after another jury in Texas in August ordered Jones and his company to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of another slain Sandy Hook child. A third trial over the hoax claims, involving two more Sandy Hook parents, is expected to be held near the end of the year in Texas.

    Jones, who has acknowledged in recent years that the shooting did occur, has blasted the lawsuits and trials on his Austin, Texas-based Infowars show, calling them unfair and a violation of his free speech rights.

    But he lost his right to present those defenses when the judges in Connecticut and Texas found him liable for damages by default without trials, for what they called Jones’ repeated failures to turn over some evidence including financial documents and website analytics to the Sandy Hook lawyers.

    With liability already established, the trials in both states focused only on how much Jones should pay in damages.

    Pattis, Jones’ lawyer, wrote in the motions filed Friday that there was a lack of evidence directly connecting Jones with the people who harassed and threatened the Sandy Hook families. Pattis said the trial resembled a “memorial service, not a trial.”

    “Yes, the families in this case suffered horribly as a result of the murder of their children,” Pattis wrote, adding that Jones did not send people to harass and threaten the families.

    “There was no competent evidence offered at this trial that he ever did,” he wrote. “Instead, there was a shocking abuse of a disciplinary default and its transformation into a series of half-truths that misled a jury and resulted in substantial injustice.”

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  • CBS Evening News, October 12, 2022

    CBS Evening News, October 12, 2022

    CBS Evening News, October 12, 2022 – CBS News


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    Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families; Teen takes plunge in fight against cancer

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  • Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families

    Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families

    Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to Sandy Hook families for calling the 2012 school shooting a hoax. Nikki Battiste reports.

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  • Infowars host Alex Jones ordered by Connecticut jury to pay $965 million over Sandy Hook ‘hoax’ claims

    Infowars host Alex Jones ordered by Connecticut jury to pay $965 million over Sandy Hook ‘hoax’ claims

    WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay $965 million to people who suffered from his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, a jury in Connecticut decided Wednesday.

    The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless promotion of the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away people’s guns.

    It came in a lawsuit filed by the relatives of five children and three educators killed in the mass shooting, plus an FBI agent who was among the first responders to the scene. A Texas jury in August awarded nearly $50 million to the parents of another slain child.

    “ Experts testified that Jones’s audience swelled when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show, as did his revenue from product sales. ”

    The Connecticut trial featured tearful testimony from parents and siblings of the victims, who told about how they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’s show.

    Strangers showed up at their homes to record them. People hurled abusive comments on social media. Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, testified that people mailed rape threats to her house.

    Mark Barden told of how conspiracy theorists had urinated on the grave of his 7-year-old son, Daniel, and threatened to dig up the coffin.

    Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis discusses a question from the jury with attorneys on Tuesday.


    H. John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media/AP

    Testifying during the trial, Jones acknowledged he had been wrong about Sandy Hook. The shooting was real, he said. But both in the courtroom and on his show, he was defiant.

    He called the proceedings a “kangaroo court,” mocked the judge, called the plaintiffs’ lawyer an ambulance chaser and labeled the case an affront to free speech rights. He claimed it was a conspiracy by Democrats and the media to silence him and put him out of business. “I’ve already said ‘I’m sorry’ hundreds of times, and I’m done saying I’m sorry,” he said during his testimony.

    Twenty children and six adults died in the shooting on Dec. 14, 2012. The defamation trial was held at a courthouse in Waterbury, about 20 miles from Newtown, where the attack took place.

    The lawsuit accused Jones and Infowars’ private parent company, Free Speech Systems, of using the mass killing to build his audience and make millions of dollars.

    Experts testified that Jones’s audience swelled when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show, as did his revenue from product sales.

    Don’t miss: Alex Jones’s audience and Infowars’ revenue grew as Jones alleged Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax

    Also: Alex Jones has created a ‘living hell’ of harassment and death threats, testify Sandy Hook school parents

    In both the Texas lawsuit and the one in Connecticut, judges found the company liable for damages by default after Jones failed to cooperate with court rules on sharing evidence, including failing to turn over records that might have showed whether Infowars had profited from knowingly spreading misinformation about mass killings.

    See: Texas jury orders Alex Jones to pay more than $49 million in damages in Sandy Hook case

    Because he was already found liable, Jones was barred from mentioning free-speech rights and other topics during his testimony.

    Jones now faces a third trial, in Texas around the end of the year, in a lawsuit filed by the parents of another child killed in the shooting.

    It is unclear how much of the verdicts Jones can afford to pay.

    During the trial in Texas, he testified he couldn’t afford any judgment over $2 million. Free Speech Systems has filed for bankruptcy protection. But an economist testified in the Texas proceeding that Jones and his company were worth as much as $270 million.

    Read on: Alex Jones’s Infowars picks new CRO for bankruptcy

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  • Jury indicates it has reached a verdict in Alex Jones’ defamation trial over false hoax claims

    Jury indicates it has reached a verdict in Alex Jones’ defamation trial over false hoax claims

    Jurors indicated Wednesday they have reached a verdict in conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Connecticut defamation trial.

    Their decision was expected to be announced shortly.

    Jones and his company were found liable for damages last year. The six-person jury is tasked with determining how much the Infowars show host should pay to 15 plaintiffs — including victims’ families and an FBI agent — for calling the 2012 massacre a hoax.

    The jury has been instructed to arrive at two compensatory damages amounts per plaintiff: one sum for defamation damages and another for emotional distress damages. Jurors also will decide whether Jones should pay punitive damages; the judge would decide the amounts later.

    Each compensatory damages amount has to be at least $1, but there is no cap. The plaintiffs’ lawyers have suggested total damages could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Jones has bashed the trial as a “kangaroo court,” described it as an affront to free speech rights, and called the judge a “tyrant.” His lawyer told the jury that any damages awarded should be minimal.

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