“Infowars” host Alex Jones will earn more than a half-million dollar annual salary if the bankruptcy proposal put forth by his Free Speech Systems company is allowed.
The 49-year-old conspiracy theorist was ordered last year to pay $1.6 billion to the families impacted by his lies about the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 26 people were killed. Jones claimed the shooting was faked to garner sympathy for gun control advocates and repeatedly accused those associated with the slaughter of being part of an act.
His bankruptcy plan, offered Thursday in a Chapter 11 filing in Houston, would set aside $7 million to $10 million annually for creditors including his victims, while allowing Jones to earn an annual salary of $520,000.
Jones continues to broadcast his right-wing program where he spread the disinformation that got him sued — though Jones admitted in an Austin, Tex. courtroom in August that he knows the Sandy Hook shootings were “100% real.”
Jones was sued in Connecticut, where the murders occurred, as well as in Texas, where he broadcasts.
Witnesses including Carlee Soto Parisi, whose sister was a teacher killed at Sandy Hook, told Connecticut jurors in September they were harassed and threatened by Jones supporters.
“I had no idea why anyone would make this up,” Parisi recalled. “I was so confused.”
Jones once said on his program: “I’ve watched a lot of soap operas and I’ve seen actors and I know when I’m watching a movie and when I’m watching something real.”
He’s also claimed the the 9/11 terror attacks were a hoax, the coronavirus was “made up,” and the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
Jones, who’s challenging the rulings against him, has said he’s worth roughly $2 million. He also claimed to be “almost out of money” while begging his viewers for donations in October.
However, an economist at Jones’ defamation damages hearing in Texas estimated the bombastic broadcaster could be worth as much as $270 million.