Alex Jones files for bankruptcy after Sandy Hook $1B verdict

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(NEW YORK) — Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy on Friday, less than two months after a Connecticut jury awarded almost $1 billion in damages to plaintiffs who accused Jones of committing defamation when he called the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax.

Jones, the host of Infowars, filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas.

In the filing, Jones said he had between $1 million and $10 million in assets, falling far short of between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities.

He said in the filing that he owes money to between 50 and 99 creditors.

The damages awarded in October to 15 plaintiffs — relatives of victims and an FBI agent who responded to the shooting — amounted to $965 million.

Jones had claimed that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was performed by actors following a script written by government officials to bolster the push for gun control.

In a previous case, in Texas, Jones was ordered to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the shooting.

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