X.com, Alex Jones and the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: A Motion by a High-Sensitive Judge to Disregard Jones’ Claims
Jones said on theInfowars that they could be shut down today. If that happens, he said he’ll move to his back-up studios and website, AlexJones. Network, and will continue posting a live feed on his usual satellites and stations and on X.com. Jones is trying to prevent the sale of rights to his account, emails, and other intellectual property. X’s lawyers have joined the fight, arguing that the company owns all X accounts so those cannot be sold as assets belonging to Jones, Infowars or its parent company, Free Speech Systems.
Lopez rejected claims by Jones and First United American Companies that the sale process was rigged and that the trustees of the sale were involved with The Onion. He believed everyone acted in good faith, but the trustee should have tried harder to get a better offer for the families.
The decision is significant for Jones who has been in a legal battle with the relatives of the 26 children and adults who were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The families said Jones’ repeated lies that the 2012 shooting never happened prompted his followers to mercilessly stalk and threaten them for years. After Jones refused to cooperate at trial, Judges in Connecticut and Texas found him liable by default, and juries then awarded the families more than a billion dollars in damages, which Jones is still appealing. He then declared bankruptcy, and his media company, Free Speech Systems, was ordered to be sold off to help pay at least a fraction of what he owes the families.
FUAC, a business affiliate of Jones, offered $3.5 million for Infowars. The Onion, in partnership with the Connecticut families, offered $1.75 million in cash, plus a novel sweetener they said raised the bid’s value to at least $7 million. The families agreed to forgo some of the money they’re entitled to, in order to raise the amount that other creditors, including the Texas families, could collect. But the judge said both offers were too small.
“The sale process was fatally flawed in its execution,” FUAC argued in court papers filed in advance of the hearing. “It was behind closed doors and secret and didn’t provide any real value,” said Jones, who is still appealing the damages.
In an emergency motion Sunday night, the trustee moved to disqualify Jones’ arguments because, among other things, they came in after a court deadline and because, the trustee says, they have no merit.
Jones is “trying to thwart a sale that is the best interest of the creditors,” Murray argued in the filing. The best and final offer is a custom strategy that maximizes value to the Creditors and no one protested until they found out they didn’t win. He dismissed the objections as “a desperate attempt to manufacture controversy.”
The Onion agreed that the challenges were just an attempt to distract and delay the sale. The media company denied any wrongdoing or inequity in the process, and said the judge has broad discretion to do what he thinks is best for creditors.
Lawyers for The Onion’s parent company argued in court that the court should only address a question about whether the Trustee exercised his reasonable business judgement.
The Connecticut families are asking for the judge to confirm the sale. Despite FUAC’s objections to what they claim is an unprecedented deal structure, the families’ lawyers say what would be “truly unprecedented” would be for the court to “supplant the business judgement of the Trustee and deny the sale when not a single creditor opposes [it].”
On Jones’ actions against the Sandy Hook school shooting victim, Christopher Murray, and the Families of Jessica Lopez and K.A. Murdock
Notably, Monday’s arguments coincide with the most difficult time of year for these families, just days away from Dec. 14, when their children were brutally shot and killed at the Sandy Hook school.
Lopez said he thought the process was ruined when Christopher Murray decided to cancel a live auction and only accept sealed offers.
These families, who have already persevered through numerous delays and obstacles to hold Alex Jones accountable for his actions, are still determined to hold him accountable for the harm he has caused.
The Judge took issue with a lack of transparency, an equal playing field, and the failure to maximize value for the people who are owed money.