Speaker 1 (00:00):
Breaking news: out of Texas tonight, a federal judge ruled that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must sell off nearly all of his personal assets to start repaying the families of victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. (00:13) But the Infowars mogul can stay in business for now. He owes those grieving families nearly one and a half billion dollars for lying about the mass shooting over and over again. CBS's Omar Villafranca has more on what happens now to Jones's empire.
Alex Jones (00:30): This is an attempt at digital assassination.
Speaker 3 (00:34): Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was defiant in front of a federal courthouse today, vowing that the government may shut him down, but they won't shut him up.
Alex Jones (00:43): This is probably the end of Infowars.
Speaker 3 (00:46): A federal judge in Houston ordered Jones to liquidate his personal assets worth an estimated four to $6 million to start paying the Sandy Hook families, the 1.5 billion in defamation damages he owes them. (01:00) The decision will also force Jones to auction off his jewelry and gun collection. An attorney for Jones said $2 million is already sitting in escrow for the families after Jones sold a Texas ranch. (01:13) While in court, another episode of the Alex Jones' show aired on infowars.com, the platform where Jones spread his conspiracy theories. The judge ruled that the company doesn't have to liquidate its assets, but that Jones will not control the money.
Alex Jones (01:29): The whole thing is a giant hoax.
Speaker 3 (01:31): Courts in both Texas and Connecticut found Jones liable for defamation after he called the attack fake, a hoax, and called grieving parents crisis actors. For Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emily was one of the 20 students killed at Sandy Hook in 2012, this case is not about money, but accountability.
Speaker 4 (01:49): The reason that accountability is important for me is because that's part of the healing process.
Speaker 3 (01:54): The hearing comes the same week the survivors of the Sandy Hook massacre graduate from high school. Former classmates wore green and white pins to honor their memory. A memory Parker hopes never fades.
Speaker 4 (02:06): Some of the communications between the families have been just very beautiful, and so it is touching and it is emotional.
Speaker 3 (02:14): Infowars.com will survive for now, but Jones no longer controls the business assets and his attorney says they're preparing for a quote, "orderly liquidation." Nora.
Speaker 1 (02:24): Oh, Omar Villafranca. Thank you.