Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is trying to keep his personal social media accounts from being sold upcoming auction To get paid for your Infowars media platform He is owed more than $1 billion in connection with the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootingClaiming that selling those accounts would violate his privacy and deny him a chance for a fresh start after bankruptcy.
The trustee overseeing the liquidation and sale of the assets of Infowars and its parent company Free Speech Systems asked a federal judge on Friday to include the social media accounts as part of an auction scheduled for November and December.
The judge delayed taking a decision on the case for at least a week.
Jones’ lawyers argue that the personal media accounts using his real name are not owned by Infowars or FSS, but are controlled by him personally, and should be considered part of his “persona”, Which cannot be owned by anyone other than them.
They argue that trustee Christopher Murray does not have authority over the social media accounts as property that can be sold, and warned that the buyer could face a lawsuit over whether they were acquired properly.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston said that a proposed order regarding the possible sale of the social media accounts, which would have preserved Jones’s right to later sue over ownership, was vague, and was temporarily blocked in a week. Another hearing was scheduled.
“We have to have a lot of clarity and everyone agreeing that something can be sold before it can even be sold,” Lopez said. “I want the buyer or bidder to know exactly what they think they can buy. “I don’t want to create a litigation risk for a potential buyer.”
The trustee is also seeking permission to sell the rights to royalties from Jones’ book “The Great Reset: End the War for the World,” published in August 2022, and his video game “Alex Jones’ nWO Wars,” released in 2023. It features Jones as the protagonist in a shooting game.
Despite his company’s pending loss, Jones has vowed to continue his talk show through other means, possibly including a new website and his personal social media accounts.
He has also suggested that the assets of Infowars could be purchased by his supporters, allowing him to continue hosting his show as an employee under the Infowars brand in the company’s home city of Austin, Texas.
Seeking rights to the social media accounts, Trusty’s legal team argued in court filings that Jones’s “They are used for, and in some cases, have significant numbers of followers.”
Jones’s X account has around 3 million followers.
The trustee argued that social media accounts of influencers, celebrities and political figures have become valuable assets, and Jones’s accounts have drawn particular interest from multiple parties in purchasing them.
If sold, Jones’ lawyers said the lawsuit would depend on who bought them.
Vicki Driver, one of Jones’ attorneys, explained, “We became comfortable with the trustee that if some parties were successful bidders, there would be a lawsuit later, but if some parties were successful bidders, there would be no lawsuit later.” Judge.
“It’s valuable to some people to buy these assets and use them one way, and to other people it’s valuable to use them another way,” Driver said.
Both Jones and his company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 – the same year as the Sandy Hook family. Won nearly $1.5 billion in defamation and emotional distress lawsuits against Jones for repeatedly calling the 2012 school shooting a hoax perpetrated by “crisis actors” in order to pass more gun control laws.
Twenty first-graders and six teachers were killed in a shooting in Newtown, Conn.
During two civil trials in Texas and Connecticut, parents and children of several victims testified that they were traumatized by the fraudulent conspiracies of Jones and the actions of his followers.
they said they were harassed and threatened Jones’s confidants, some of whom personally encountered the grieving families, said that the shooting had never happened and that their children never existed.
A parent said someone had threatened to dig up their dead son’s grave.
Jones is appealing the civil jury verdict, citing his right to free speech and questioning whether the families have proven any connection between his comments and people harassing and threatening relatives. .
He has since admitted that there was a shooting.
(Tags to translate) business(T) us news(T) alex jones(T) bankruptcy(T) Sandy Hook
