Alex Jones, Infowars Bankruptcies Set to Speed Up With Mediator

The bankruptcy cases for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his online media platform need a judicial mediator to help facilitate a quick resolution with families of Sandy Hook School shooting victims, a trustee said.

Judge Edward L. Morris of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas should be appointed on an emergency basis to mediate negotiations in the closely tied Chapter 11 cases for Jones and his company Free Speech Systems LLC—which owns and operates Jones’ Infowars program—trustee Melissa Haselden said in a court filing Monday. Haselden was statutorily appointed to oversee Free Speech’s bankruptcy case in 2022, pursuant to bankruptcy rules for small businesses.

If Judge Christopher Lopez accepts her request, families of Sandy Hook victims could see a speedier resolution after winning $1.5 billion in state defamation judgments against Jones and his Infowars platform for repeatedly calling the 2012 elementary school shooting a hoax.

Haselden warned earlier this month that the company’s prospects for reorganizing in bankruptcy were doubtful after Free Speech’s chief restructuring officer moved to appoint a new lead attorney following a feud with prior counsel over the direction of the case.

The swap in legal representation was ultimately consensual, but advanced pursuant to an agreement that the key parties involved in both bankruptcy cases would meet for face-to-face negotiations to speed up the proceedings.

Haselden told the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in her filing Monday that Morris has agreed to mediate two days of negotiations next month in Fort Worth, and that his appointment should be approved in short order to allow the parties “to commence conversations, prepare themselves for the meeting and to make needed travel arrangements.”

“These cases have been on file for more than a year,” Haselden said. “For a variety of reasons, a resolution of these cases needs to be reached in short order.”

The bankruptcy proceedings have been complicated by disputes over how much Jones and Free Speech should ultimately pay, and the filing of a lawsuit accusing an Infowars vendor owned by Jones and his parents of receiving millions in insider payments.

Morris, who is willing to mediate the Houston bankruptcy cases in his own district, “will greatly assist the parties in their negotiations,” Haselden said.

The trustee is represented by Elizabeth C. Freeman. Free Speech is represented by O’ConnorWechsler PLLC. Jones is represented by Crowe & Dunlevy PC. The creditors are represented by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

The case is In re Free Speech Systems LLC, Bankr. S.D. Tex., No. 22-60043, motion filed 3/25/24.