Alex Jones’ Infowars IP Heads to Auction After Judge Approval

The trustee overseeing the liquidation of right-wing provocateur Alex Jones’ assets was given the green light by a Houston bankruptcy court to start auctioning off the property of his Infowars media platform.

US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Lopez at a hearing Tuesday said he would approve a motion by Christopher R. Murray, the Chapter 7 trustee for Jones’ estate, to employ a sales broker and wind down the assets of Infowars parent company Free Speech Systems LLC.

Murray is tasked with with liquidating Jones’ estate to help him pay down approximately $1.5 billion in defamation judgments related to statements he made calling the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax.

“The Connecticut families have always sought a fair and equitable distribution of Free Speech System’s assets for all of the families, and today’s decision is a significant step forward,” Chris Mattei of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder PC, representing some of the victims’ families, said in a statement.

“FSS will now be sold at auction, meaning Alex Jones will no longer own or control the company he built. This brings the families closer to their goal of holding him accountable for the harm he has caused,” Mattei said.

The trustee will first concentrate on selling the company’s intellectual property, Murray attorney Joshua W. Wolfshohl of Porter Hedges LLP at the hearing Tuesday. Jones’ own IP, which has already attracted several potential bidders, will not yet go up for sale but may be added soon, Murray said.

The Jones estate, which Murray now controls, has a 100% membership interest in Free Speech Systems.

The deadline for bidding on the IP is scheduled for Nov. 8, and an auction is tentatively set for Nov. 13, according to court documents. The remaining assets would go to auction in December.

A website to sell Infowars’ assets offers bidders the ability to buy production rights and materials, more than 400 domain names, social media accounts, podcast sites, newsletter subscribers, product trademarks, and production equipment, according to the site.

The bankruptcy court in June converted Jones’ personal Chapter 11 into a Chapter 7, and tossed out Free Speech Systems’ separate bankruptcy, allowing the Sandy Hook victims’ families and others to pursue their judgments in state courts.

The Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog, the US Trustee, had objected to the sale, arguing that Murray only controls Jones membership interests but not Free Speech Systems’ actual assets, and therefore could only sell those equity interests. But Lopez said Tuesday he always intended for Murray to have control over the sale of the company’s assets, and would issue a clarifying order to make his original intent clear.

Funds from the sales would be set aside as creditors sort out who has priority rights to collect on their debts from Jones first.

The Chapter 7 trustee is represented by Jones Murray LLP and Porter Hedges LLP. Jones is represented Crowe & Dunlevy PC.

The case is Jones & Off. Comm. Of Unsecured Creditors, Bankr. S.D. Tex., No. 22-33553, hearing 9/24/24.