Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cannot use his personal bankruptcy to escape paying at least $1.1 billion in defamation damages stemming from his repeated lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cannot use his personal bankruptcy to escape paying at least $1.1 billion in defamation damages stemming from his repeated lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday.

  • mtdyson_01English
    4•1 year ago

    Maybe the death threats from his fans and having to go into hiding because of his rhetoric bumped up price. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

    I’m sure there were many parents in the jury that have had enough of the bullshit.

    • @cricket97@lemmy.world
      1•1 year ago

      Death threats are illegal, but Alex Jones did not make the death threats. Does he share some responsibility? probably. But he was not the one making death threats and did not instruct his followers to make them. That changes it from “intent” to just being irresponsible.

      • arglebargleEnglish
        1•1 year ago

        Surely you followed the trials, since you have an opinion. Jones had so many opportunities to make that case, and didn’t. Stalling, lying, and fighting with the courts did not work out well for him. Calling the judge names outside of court and denying everything also did not work for him.

        Reviewing the income statements and the effects it had on everyone’s lives, the jurors came up with a number that was the sum. In two different cases as well.

        It is not as cut and dry as “he shouldn’t be punished, and this was too much”

          • @awnery@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1•1 year ago

            it’s not clear what you are arguing for. the fines and judgments against Jones are payable. he has assets. he’s just a baby.

          • arglebargleEnglish
            1•1 year ago

            I mean he’s a kinda retarded libertarian who distrusts the government in its entirety.

            No, he is not. He is a grifter, that exploits peoples fears for money. He also happens to have a decent amount of hate coupled with a stunted maturity, which makes for finding an easy audience to grift.

            I heal what you are saying, but there is no retaliation, no punishment. This is a civil matter, he choose to get himself into this mess by not even trying to get out of it, and now this is the restitution that his peers have found him liable for.

            Cruel and unusual is what he did by lying about people to create the fear solely for profit. There is no libertarian angle, no news story. It is simply he is willing to hurt others for money.