Alex Jones Ordered To Pay $965 Million For Sandy Hook Lies

(CTN News) – A Connecticut jury on Wednesday ruled that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay $965 million to victims of his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.

As part of a conspiracy to take away guns, Infowars host has promoted the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage are actors.

Five children and three educators, plus an FBI agent who was one of the first responders, filed the lawsuit. Parents of another slain child got nearly $50 million from a Texas jury in August.

The plaintiffs hugged after the verdict was read. On Alex Jones’ Infowars show, live video from the court played on a split screen.

Hey, don’t buy big houses, he said.

Parents and siblings of the victims testified tearfully about how they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies Jones told.

During the trial, Alex Jones admitted that he was wrong about Sandy Hook. He said the shooting was real. Both in court and on his show, he was defiant.

He mocked the judge, called the plaintiffs’ lawyer an ambulance chaser, and said the case was an affront to free speech rights. Democrats and the media conspired to silence him, he said.

In his testimony, he said, “I’ve already apologized hundreds of times and I’m done.”

The shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, killed 20 kids and six adults. Defamation trial was in Waterbury, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown.

Alex Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, were accused of using the mass killing to build their audience. Jones’ audience grew when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show, as did his revenue.

As a result of Jones’ failure to cooperate with court rules on sharing evidence, both the Texas lawsuit and the Connecticut lawsuit found the company liable for damages by default. Jones also didn’t turn over records that might have shown Infowars profited from spreading misinformation about mass killings.

Jones couldn’t mention free speech rights and other topics because he was already found liable.

In a lawsuit filed by the parents of another child killed in the shooting, Jones faces a third trial later this year in Texas.

Alex Jones can’t afford to pay the verdicts. He said he couldn’t afford any judgment over $2 million during the Texas trial. Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy.

An economist testified in the Texas case that Jones and his company were worth $270 million.

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