Law&Crime Sidebar - What's Next for Alex Jones After $49.3M Defamation Judgment?

Episode Date: August 8, 2022

A jury in Texas awarded the family of Jesse Lewis, who was killed at Sandy Hook, more than $45 million in punitive damages in a defamation lawsuit against InfoWars founder Alex Jones. Jones says he doesn’t have the money to pay and has declared bankruptcy. But that may not stop him from having to pay the judgment. Jack Queen from Reuters joins Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy to discuss what comes next for Jones as he faces other lawsuits. GUESTS:Jack Queen, Covers Law for Retuers: https://twitter.com/jackqueen_LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Question number one. $4,200,000. Question number two, $20,500,000. Question number three, $20,500,000. Conspiracy theorist and Info Wars host Alex Jones hit with a $45.2 million verdict in favor of one of the families who lost a child at Sandy Hook. I admitted I was wrong. I admitted I made a mistake. I admitted that I followed disinformation, but not on purpose. I apologize to the families. So what's next for the conspiracy theorist? We have a plan to stay on air through this bankruptcy.

We have a reorganization plan. But if you don't fund us, if you don't buy products in InfoWoreStore.com, we will shut down. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and welcome to this edition of Law and Crimes Sidebar podcast. We've been covering the Alex Jones trial over the last week and a half or so, and this was a case involving the parents of a young boy named Jesse Lewis. They sued Alex Jones after Jones repeatedly, repeat. heatedly claimed on his InfoWars show that the whole thing was a hoax, that it was a government conspiracy, that it was all fake and that all of these young children, they were first graders, were not dead and that their parents were actors. So it was a really disturbing allegation,

a disturbing claim that he was making and very hurtful to the families involved. Alex Jones said on the stand that he believed that Sandy Hook did happen. He had said it in some prior interviews as well, but it was obviously too little too late. So joining us to discuss this verdict is Jack Queen. He's a reporter with Reuters who covered the case. Jack, welcome to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Of course. Thanks for having me. Jack, a lot of people might have been surprised. This was $4.1 million or $4 million or so in compensatory damages that the jury awarded to the family of Jesse Lewis. And then $45.2 million in punitive damages. Punitive is basically punishments. So your take on the two verdicts, the damage awards. Well, the parents were

asking for 150 million in both cases, which is, of course, a pretty enormous sum. And the 45 million in punitive damages is very, very large, particularly for Texas. It's important to note that number is probably going down a lot. Texas law caps non-economic punitive damages at 750,000. And Supreme court precedent holds that generally speaking punitive non-economic punitive damages should not exceed four times the compensatory damages. So there will be some arguments on that. Mr. Jones's lawyer tells me that they're, of course, going to be trying to get that verdict reduced in Texas court. And there will also be appeals on that probably. Yeah, I would assume that they would try to get that reduced. So there are other lawsuits pending in Texas and Connecticut against Alex Jones.

But now those have been put on hold because Alex Jones has claimed bankruptcy. So tell us a little bit about that. Sure. Yeah. So those will be paused automatically because, or not automatically, but those will be paused because of the bankruptcy in Texas, which he filed for several days into the trial, actually, and agreed to not attempt to pause that suit. But the other two, yes, will be on hold.

So the spotlight now shifts to the bankruptcy proceeding where the parents, are, of course, challenging that, arguing that it's essentially a sham bankruptcy designed to just delay the other proceedings. And they made similar arguments in another bankruptcy for some other companies of Alex Joneses. He has a number of different business entities that are connected to Info Wars. And they were successfully able to get that bankruptcy removed from court and allowing the lawsuits to proceed. So we, it's very early in that bankruptcy case. We're not sure where it's going to go, but the parents will certainly be challenging it. I would think so most certainly. And just because of the timing, and it's also my understanding that a bankruptcy filing

doesn't necessarily insulate someone from having to pay or keep them or you can't just go declare bankruptcy and say, oh, I don't have the money to pay and I'm not going to pay. That's not how these things work. Is that right? No, it's not, of course. And, You know, what the parents will be asking for in the bankruptcy proceeding well, and they already have asked for this, is that the court not allow any money to be taken out of these entities and transferred to Jones or any other entities that he controls while this is going on. So that's their first request, is to just, you know, sort of essentially freeze the money and make sure it doesn't go elsewhere. Now, Mr. Jones's companies will be trying to say we need to pay contractors, we need to pay, we have various obligations. we need to meet in order to stay on the air and stay in business. And of course, one of those business entities that he will be owing money to is another one that he controls.

So that's the parent's concern is that he might try to funnel a bunch of cash out to another shell entity. Another thing to note is that during a broadcast, during the trial, Mr. Jones said that the bankruptcy proceeding will allow him to get a much, much lower appeal bond in Texas and allow him to draft. out that process without paying anything for years, he said. So sort of tipping his hand there, it's clearly a strategic bankruptcy. And he's said as much on his show. And it seems like that will be used against him during the bankruptcy proceeding, much as his own words were used against him by the family of Jesse Lewis, their attorney in the defamation case. I mean, he had already been found, you know, liable for defamation by the judge through a default judgment because she said he didn't comply with certain court orders and things of that nature. So this was all, this trial was all

about how much the family was entitled to in the jury's mind as far as damages went. But, you know, that's going to come up. I mean, he keeps talking and talking and talking. And he's certainly not helping himself any. He has said a lot throughout this trial. And he held press conferences during the trial, talking to the press. So, I mean, where does Alex Jones go? from here. Does he just keep going? You know, he doesn't seem like somebody who's just going to fold up Info Wars and go away. He's been around for a really long time. Yeah, you know, that's a good point about he really hasn't been doing himself any favors with his public comments during the trial. At one point, lawyers for the parents showed video of him saying that the jury pool was full of people

who didn't know what planet they're on. And also a photo posted on Info Wars of Judge Gamble superimposed over a picture of Lady Liberty on fire. And so that was played for the jury. And of course, Judge Gamble saw the photo as well. So I can't imagine that did him any favors with the jury. But, you know, he is the type of person who is, I think, is not likely to be quiet about this going forward. You know, Info Wars brings in about 70 million in revenue a year. Mr. Jones and his companies that control Info Wars, according to the plaintiffs, are estimated to be worth about 130 million to 270 million. So it really depends on first, first, how much this verdict gets reduced to

because I think it's safe to say it will be getting reduced. And how much of a bite that would take out of InfoWars' business. They're doing everything they can to stay on air. The thing that Mr. Jones has been repeatedly saying on his show is that listeners need to buy his book and his nutraceutical supplements and meal prep kits and all sorts of other products that he sells through InfoWars because it's important to note the business model for the show is mostly about creating a platform to market their various products because they do not get a lot of outside advertising, as you can imagine, because they're sort of toxic for

mainstream brands. And so that's also an argument that the plaintiff's lawyers made during the case is that the reason they kept going with these incendiary claims was because they were getting enormous engagement. One of the articles, an expert testified, had three billion page views, and that gives them a platform to market all of these products. I've always been kind of curious about the marketing of the supplements, because I've seen him talk about that in doing some research about him in the past. He sells all of these supplements on his website, and I've often wondered to myself, who is buying these things? Are they really taking them? Because, you know, these are things you could probably buy some of this stuff at the drugstore if you really wanted to.

So it's an interesting business model he's got going there. Well, it'll be interesting to follow the case moving forward and to see what Alex Jones does, to see what the courts do and how his bankruptcy case moves forward. So thank you so much, Jack Queen of Reuters, for coming on today. We appreciate it. My pleasure. Anytime. And that'll do it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Michael Dininger and Sam Goldberg.

Alyssa Fisher handles our booking. Kiera Bronson is our social media person, and Bobby Zoki manages our YouTube channel. You can find Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast. And of course, you can watch us on the Law and Crime Network's YouTube channel. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and we will see you next time.

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