Infowars founder ordered to pay nearly $1 billion

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A jury on Wednesday awarded $965 million in punitive damages to families whose children were killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. A judge already found conservative media personality Alex Jones liable for harming the families by claiming the shooting was a hoax. Jones has since apologized and said he was wrong. But the families say that people who listened to him went on to harass them for years.

Can Jones pay that much? Over the summer, Infowars’ parent company filed for bankruptcy. According to the filing, the company has nowhere near $965 million in assets. The families accuse Jones of filing for bankruptcy to avoid paying court judgments. The case is ongoing.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read my report on social media companies de-platforming Jones.

Lynde Langdon

Lynde is WORLD’s executive editor for news. She is a graduate of World Journalism Institute, the Missouri School of Journalism, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Lynde resides with her family in Wichita, Kan.

@lmlangdon