A US Bankruptcy court trustee has indicated that he will move to “conduct an orderly wind-down” of the operations of Infowars’ parent company and liquidate its assets to help cover the $1.5 billion Alex Jones has been ordered to pay in court.
Trustee Christopher Murray made this statement in an emergency motion filed on Sunday in Houston, stating his plan to “liquidate” the inventory of Free Speech Systems. Murray, appointed by a federal judge to oversee the assets in Jones’ bankruptcy case, did not provide a timeline for the liquidation of the assets, according to the New York Post.
Jones has mentioned that he expects Infowars to continue operating for a few more months before shutting down due to the bankruptcy. However, he has reportedly vowed to continue broadcasting through other means, possibly via social media. Jones has also spoken about the possibility of someone buying the company and allowing him to run his shows as an employee.
Murray also requested that US bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez place a hold on the efforts by the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims to collect the money owed to them, arguing that these efforts would interfere with his plans to close Jones’ Free Speech Systems and sell off the assets.
Lawyers for the parents of one of the victims asked a judge on Friday to order the parent company to turn over assets such as money in bank accounts and garnish its accounts. Judge Maya Guerra Gamble approved the request, prompting Murray’s emergency motion.
Murray wrote in the court filing that “The specter of a pell-mell seizure of FSS’s assets, including its cash, threatens to throw the business into chaos, potentially stopping it in its tracks, to the detriment” of his duties in Jones’ personal bankruptcy case.
“The Trustee seeks this Court’s intervention to prevent a value-destructive money grab and allow an orderly process to take its course,” he added.
On June 14, Lopez approved converting Jones’ personal bankruptcy case from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7, changing it from a reorganization to a liquidation. Jones had requested this move earlier in the month.
Despite being ordered to pay $1.5 billion to the families, a court analysis revealed that Jones’ total assets amount to no more than $10 million, and that a Chapter 7 liquidation would likely leave the families with less than $4 million between them after legal bills are paid.
