The Justice Department and attorneys for families of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting are questioning the legitimacy of attempts by right-wing talk show host Alex Jones to put several businesses in his media empire into bankruptcy just as a trial was set to open in Texas, where he faced the possibility of being ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages.,,,

The Justice Department’s Office of the U.S. Trustee told Judge Christopher Lopez the structure of Jones’ filing “may demonstrate these cases are an abuse of the bankruptcy system.” The government submission questioned why Jones had not filed for personal bankruptcy and why another business he controls, Free Speech Systems, was not included in the filings earlier this week.

“Why didn’t Alex Jones or FSS file for bankruptcy relief when Debtors did? They are both defendants in the same litigation as Debtors, and all of them have been found liable in those cases,” attorneys Jayson Ruff and Ha Nguyen wrote for the Justice Department unit. “It appears that Jones intends to leverage the bankruptcy filings of his holding companies to extend the automatic stays of pending litigation against Debtors to him and FSS, while he maintains full control of FSS and its assets going forward. Thus, this Motion … seems to be just the first step for Debtors to carry out Jones’s and FSS’s scheme of avoiding the burdens of bankruptcy while reaping its benefits.”

Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families made similar arguments that Jones is making an “illegitimate” attempt to dodge or delay the financial consequences of his false claims about the 2012 attack.

“What Jones and his affiliates want to avoid is the wisdom of juries that would have liquidated his liability and the liability of his affiliates,” the families’ attorneys wrote.

The documents filed on Sunday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas sought bankruptcy protection for Infowars and Prison Planet, another one of Jones' right-wing outlets. Jones also sought bankruptcy protection for Infowars Health, the store from which Jones has hawked nutritional supplements and other products. The type of bankruptcy filing the company made is one that could allow it to stay in business. Many companies have used bankruptcy to continue to operate while shedding debt and other liabilities they can't afford, including legal judgments in some cases.

The Infowars store has been particularly lucrative. In a 2019 deposition, Jones' father, who operated much of the business, estimated "something like 80 percent" of revenue was "probably" from Infowars store sales. Citing court documents, the Huffington Post reported in 2022 that over a three year period from 2015 to 2018, the Infowars store did $165 million in sales.....

Late last month, Jones was held in contempt by the Connecticut court for failing to comply with multiple orders to sit for a deposition against him. Jones paid $75,000 in fines over the matter, but later had the money returned to him when he finally did comply with the order.

Mark Bangston, an attorney representing the parents of two Sandy Hook children in a Texas lawsuit, told CNN in an email, "None of the Mr. Jones' ridiculous tricks have worked in the past, and this one will fare no better."

Alex Jones was ordered to pay more than $1 million for his continued disregard of court proceedings related to multiple defamation lawsuits against him.

In a court filing released Friday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ordered that Jones and his company Free Speech Systems, LLC, pay a total of $1,078,653 to several people suing Jones for lies he spread about them on his conspiracy platform Infowars. He has 30 days to pay the more than $1 million sum to the different parties, according to the filing......

Gamble eviscerated Infowars and Jones’ LLC in a previous filing announcing the sanctions earlier this month.

“The Court finds that Defendants have intentionally thwarted the legitimate discover process in these cases,” Gamble’s ruling read. “The egregious and repetitiveness of Defendants’ obstruction exhibits a disregard for and disrespect of the integrity of this Court and our judicial system. Plaintiff’s discovery of facts necessary to properly present their claim for damages has been irreparably prejudiced in virtually all respects. Absent severe action from this Court, Defendants will ultimately profit from this sabotage of the discovery process.”

In 2020, Jones was hit with a similar sanction for failing to provide discovery documents related to the Sandy Hook lawsuit and had to pay $100,000.