Category Archives: Newtown shooting

Judge blocks Sandy Hook families’ settlement over Alex Jones bankruptcy

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Texas judge says he cannot approve deal between families who won suits over false remarks about 2012 mass shooting

A bankruptcy judge has blocked a proposed settlement between the families of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting victims who sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over his false remarks about the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school.

On Wednesday, judge Christopher Lopez of the US bankruptcy court for the southern district of Texas said he was unable to approve the proposed settlement between the families and Jones’s bankruptcy trustee. Lopez claimed that their efforts to divide Jones’s assets exceeded his court’s authority.

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Ronda Rousey ‘so, so sorry’ for prior Sandy Hook shooting denialism

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Ex-UFC superstar calls 2013 post boosting Sandy Hook conspiracy theory video her ‘most regrettable decision’

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship superstar Ronda Rousey has issued her most detailed apology yet for having once engaged in Sandy Hook school shooting denialism after Reddit users inundated her with criticism during a question-and-answer session on the platform.

Rousey on Tuesday was participating in one of the Ask Me Anything discussions that celebrities frequently have with Reddit users when she was quickly flooded with questions and disapproval about her having spread misinformation on the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 schoolchildren.

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Alex Jones to liquidate assets to help meet $1.5bn Sandy Hook judgment

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The Infowars host dropped his petition for bankruptcy protection, now opting instead for liquidation of company

Infowars host Alex Jones has asked a court to sell off his assets to help meet a $1.5bn defamation judgment against him and his companies over public comments he made claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was faked.

In a court filing, Jones dropped his petition merely to go into bankruptcy, admitted that he has to pay the Sandy Hook families, and asked the judge to convert the bankruptcy into a Chapter 7 liquidation.

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Alex Jones offers $55m to Sandy Hook families to satisfy $1.5bn judgment

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Families of the slain schoolchildren had earlier proposed an $85m settlement for the Infowars host’s lies about the 2012 massacre

The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has proposed to pay $55m over 10 years to the Sandy Hook families who sued him for spreading lies that the 2012 school massacre in Connecticut, one of the worst in American history, was a hoax.

The offer came after a Texas judge ruled that Jones, the host of Infowars, could not use bankruptcy protection to dodge the nearly $1.5bn he was ordered to pay to the victims’ families, who suffered abuse and threats from believers of Jones’s lies.

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Alex Jones reportedly concealing funds to avoid $1.5bn payout to Sandy Hook families

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The conspiracy theorist was ordered to pay the families of the victims damages for claims that 2012 shooting was a hoax

Rightwing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appears to be moving his money to friends and family in an attempt to avoid paying out nearly $1.5bn in damages to the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, a new report reveals.

Last year, Jones was ordered to pay the huge damages following his years-long claims on his digital platform Infowars that the mass shooting was a hoax staged by the government to take away guns from Americans.

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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones seeks new trial after nearly $1bn Sandy Hook verdict

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Jury ordered Jones to pay $965m in damages to families subjected to harassment from Jones’s lies about Newtown school shooting

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a Connecticut judge to throw out a nearly $1bn verdict against him and order a new trial in a lawsuit by Sandy Hook families, who say they were subjected to harassment and threats from Jones’s lies about the 2012 Newtown school shooting.

Jones filed the requests Friday, saying Judge Barbara Bellis’s pretrial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and “a substantial miscarriage of justice”.

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Alex Jones ordered to pay Sandy Hook families $965m over hoax claims

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Verdict is second big judgment against Infowars host over promotion of the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened

The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay $965m to people who suffered from his false claim that the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was a hoax, a jury in Connecticut decided on Wednesday.

The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless promotion of the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away people’s guns.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Alex Jones ordered to pay $45.2m in punitive damages to Sandy Hook family

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Combined amount of $49.3m is still below the $150m Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis sought after his Sandy Hook shooting lies

After already ordering him to pay $4.1m to the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, the jury hearing the defamation case against far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over his falsehoods about the massacre told him to surrender another $45.2m to the grieving family who sued him.

The combined amount of $49.3m is hefty but still below the $150m Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis – the mother and father of slain six-year-old Jesse Lewis – had demanded over Jones’s repeated lies that the Sandy Hook elementary school murders in Newtown, Connecticut, were an elaborate ruse carried out by “crisis actors” hellbent on forcing gun control reform.

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Alex Jones worth up to $240m, expert says, as family seeks punitive damages

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Jones ordered to pay $4.1m for defaming Sandy Hook parents by claiming shooting was a hoax, but could be forced to pay more

A financial expert testifying for the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting has estimated that Alex Jones and his media company are worth between $135m and $240m as they seek punitive damages beyond the $4.1m they secured a day ago for the US conspiracy theorist’s falsehoods about the massacre.

The expert, Bernard Pettingill, said from the witness stand in an Austin courtroom that Jones and his Free Speech Systems company earned more than $50m annually between 2016 to 2021 – even as popular social media companies banned him from promoting himself through them – due to his “rabid following” of millions.

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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to pay $4.1m over false Sandy Hook claims

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Far-right Infowars owner faced defamation trial for repeatedly saying the school shooting was a hoax

The jury in Alex Jones’s defamation trial on Thursday ordered the far-right conspiracy theorist to pay $4.1m in damages over his repeated claims that the deadly Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.

Jurors in Austin, Texas, gave their verdict after deliberating about one hour Wednesday and seven hours Thursday at the end of a nine-days-long trial. The verdict levied against Jones was far below the $150m or more the plaintiffs had requested that jurors award them.

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Sandy Hook defamation jury told of Alex Jones’s ‘massive campaign of lies’

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Infowars founder ‘attacked the parents of murdered children’ by telling audience shooting in which 26 died was a hoax, court hears

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones repeatedly “lied and attacked the parents of murdered children” when he told his Infowars audience that the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was a hoax, an attorney for one of the victim’s parents told a Texas jury on Tuesday at the outset of a trial to determine how much Jones must pay for defaming them.

Jones created a “massive campaign of lies” and recruited “wild extremists from the fringes of the internet … who were as cruel as Mr Jones wanted them to be” to the families of the 20 first-graders and six educators who were killed in the 2012 attack on the school in Newtown, Connecticut, attorney Mark Bankston said during his opening statement as Jones looked on and occasionally shook his head.

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Far-right InfoWars website files for bankruptcy protection

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Site’s founder, Alex Jones, was found liable for damages in lawsuits related to lies he spread about 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting

Facing multiple defamation lawsuits, the far-right website InfoWars on Sunday voluntarily filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Texas.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures put a hold on all civil litigation faced by companies that file for the protection and allows them to prepare turnaround plans while remaining operational.

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Sandy Hook families reject settlement offer from Infowars host Alex Jones

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Jones found liable for damages after victims said he defamed them by claiming 2012 mass shooting in Connecticut never happened

Relatives of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims have rejected an offer from Alex Jones, host of the conspiracy theory and rightwing disinformation website Infowars, to pay $120,000 per plaintiff to resolve their lawsuit. The families said he defamed them by asserting the massacre never happened.

A Connecticut judge found Jones liable for damages in November, and a trial is planned to determine how much he should pay the families.

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Father of Sandy Hook massacre victim wins defamation lawsuit

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Lenny Pozner, whose six-year-old son was killed in the shooting, sued authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened

The father of a victim of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre has won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened; the latest victory for victims’ relatives who have been taking a more aggressive stance against conspiracy theorists.

The book, Nobody Died at Sandy Hook, has also been pulled from shelves to settle claims against its publisher filed by Lenny Pozner, whose six-year-old son, Noah, was killed in the shooting.

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Nigel Farage under fire over ‘antisemitic tropes’ on far-right US talkshow

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Exclusive: Brexit party leader referred to ‘new world order’ in interviews with Alex Jones

Nigel Farage is facing strong criticism from Jewish organisations and a series of other groups after it emerged he repeatedly took part in interviews with a far-right US talkshow host, during which the Brexit party leader openly discussed conspiracy theories, some of which have been linked to antisemitism.

A Guardian investigation has found Farage has appeared at least six times on the show of Alex Jones, who was sued by bereaved parents after claiming a US school shooting was faked, and was banned permanently from Facebook last week.

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Sandy Hook: Connecticut rules gunmaker can be sued over shooting

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High court justices issued 4-3 ruling over how Remington marketed the Bushmaster military-style rifle used in the shooting

The Connecticut supreme court has dealt a blow to gun manufacturers by ruling that victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting could go to trial against Remington Arms, on the grounds that the gun company irresponsibly marketed the gun used in the shooting to high-risk individuals.

“The families are grateful that our state’s supreme court has rejected the gun industry’s bid for complete immunity, not only from the consequences of their reckless conduct but also from the truth-seeking discovery process,” Josh Koskoff, one of the lawyers representing the Sandy Hook families, said.

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