American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, sentenced to pay nearly $1.5 billion to the families of the victims of a school massacre, which he had denied, was rejected on Tuesday in his latest appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
The Court does not give reasons for its decision to dismiss Alex Jones’ appeal, which denounced “a financial death sentence” and claimed that this amount could never be paid.
Lies that go viral
Alex Jones, radio host and owner of the far-right site Infowars, staged a murder that occurred in 2012 at the Sandy Hook school in Connecticut (northeast).
His lies had gone viral, causing harassment from the families of the victims of the massacre, where 20 children and 6 adults died. The families, who claimed to have received death or even rape threats from his supporters, took him to court and won the case.
But Alex Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in 2022 and declared bankruptcy of his company, Free Speech Systems, based in Texas (south). In June 2024, a Texas judge approved the liquidation of his personal assets, estimated at approximately $9 million, to allow him to begin compensating the families.
This failed appeal to the US Supreme Court closes a case with many twists and turns. The last concerns Infowars, once bought by parody site The Onion (equivalent to Gorafi), before the deal was canceled in court. If at the time Alex Jones was delighted with a “great victory for press freedom”, he must have since become disillusioned.
The far-right influencer counted on the conservative majority of the highest court in the United States to avoid the fine, which ultimately did not work out well for him.
Source: BFM TV
