by - A Connecticut court has ordered Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion in restitution to Sandy Hook families.
- He reacted to the verdict with laughter and disbelief, saying he had no intention of paying it.
- The radio host continued to ask his audience for donations to help with his legal fees.
Alex Jones was nowhere to be found in a Connecticut courtroom Wednesday as a judge ordered the Infowars host to pay nearly $1 billion in restitution to the families of Sandy Hook victims.
Instead, the conspiracy theorist went live and laughed off the monumental verdict, assuring his viewers that he has no plans to actually pay what’s owed.
“Do these people really think they’re getting any of this money?” said, according to NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny.
—Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) October 12, 2022
Jones spent years promoting false theories that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed, was a government hoax aimed at limiting gun access.
As damages continued to mount on Wednesday, Jones mocked the verdict in an “extraordinary” live stream on his website.
“This is what Hell must be like,” he reportedly said NBC News reporter Ben Collins. “They just read the damages. Even if you don’t have the money.”
—Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 12, 2022
Jones said on his live stream that he hoped the amount of damages would be limited and told viewers he “lost count” as the jury continued to read.
said Harry Littman, a lawyer and political commentator MSNBC that debt could follow Jones forever.
“We’re talking about such large numbers that even if he’s able to pull it off and weave some, I just don’t see how anything ends, but he’s basically broken now for the rest of his life.”
—MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 12, 2022
At the end of the jury’s instruction, Jones in a return to form, suggested the heavy charge was a scare tactic.
“They want to scare us away from the Uvalde or Parkland question,” he said, according to Collins. “We’re not going away. We’re not going to stop.”
At a news conference after the court proceedings, attorneys for the Sandy Hook families said they will scrutinize Jones’ assets to determine what is available.
“Please be assured that … we will be coordinating to ensure that these assets are available for recovery for the victims,” said attorney Chris Mattei.
Another lawyer suggested that Jones has made millions from his lies.
“How much beet juice has he sold? How many fake iodine supplements, whatever else he sells at a premium to his gullible listeners?” said attorney Josh Koskoff.
During his live stream Wednesday, Jones continued to ask viewers for donations toward his legal fees and encouraged his audience to buy his “fusion vitamin” from the Infowars store.
The $965 million in defamation awards ordered Wednesday in Connecticut are in addition to the nearly $50 million Jones was ordered by a Texas jury to pay the parents of Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis in August.
