US Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones’ appeal over £1bn Sandy Hook judgment

Alex Jones giving evidence at the Sandy Hook defamation damages trial in 2022 (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)

The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and left in place the 1.4 billion-dollar (£1 billion) judgment against him over his description of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax staged by actors.

The Infowars host had argued that a judge was wrong to find him liable for defamation and infliction of emotional distress without holding a trial on the merits of allegations lodged by relatives of victims of the shooting, which killed 20 primary school children and six teaching staff in Newtown, Connecticut.

The justices did not comment on their order, which they issued without even asking the families of the Sandy Hook victims to respond to Mr Jones’ appeal. An FBI agent who responded to the shooting also sued.

We look forward to enforcing the jury’s historic verdict and making Jones and Infowars pay for what they have done

Mr Jones filed for bankruptcy in late 2022, and his lawyers told the justices that the “plaintiffs have no possible hope of collecting” the entire judgment.

He is separately appealing against a 49 million-dollar (£37 million) judgment in a similar defamation lawsuit in Texas after he failed to turn over documents sought by the parents of another Sandy Hook victim.

In the Connecticut case, the judge issued a rare default ruling against Mr Jones and his company in late 2021 because of what she called Mr Jones’ repeated failure to abide by court rulings and to turn over certain evidence to the Sandy Hook families. The judge convened a jury to determine how much Mr Jones would owe.

The following year, the jury agreed on a 964 million-dollar (£727 million) verdict and the judge later tacked on another 473 million dollars (£356 million) in punitive damages against Mr Jones and Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, which is based in Austin, Texas.

In November, the satirical news outlet The Onion was named the winning bidder in an auction to liquidate Infowars’ assets to help pay the defamation judgments. But the bankruptcy judge threw out the auction results, citing problems with the process and The Onion’s bid.

The attempt to sell off Infowars’ assets has moved to a Texas state court in Austin.

Mr Jones is now appealing against a recent order from the court that appointed a receiver to liquidate the assets. Some of Mr Jones’ personal property is also being sold off as part of the bankruptcy case.

A lawyer who represents Sandy Hook families said the Supreme Court had properly rejected Mr Jones’ “latest desperate attempt to avoid accountability for the harm he has caused”.

“We look forward to enforcing the jury’s historic verdict and making Jones and Infowars pay for what they have done,” lawyer Christopher Mattei said in a statement.

A lawyer representing Mr Jones in the case did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.