Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is seeking to protect his personal social media accounts from being sold in the upcoming auction of his Infowars media platform to pay more than $1 billion he owes relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, per the AP. Jones claims selling those accounts would violate his privacy and deny him a chance to make a fresh start after bankruptcy. The trustee overseeing the liquidation and selloff of the assets of Infowars and its parent company Free Speech Systems, asked a federal judge on Friday to include the social media accounts as part of the auctions scheduled for November and December. The judge delayed a decision on the matter for at least a week.
Jones' lawyers argue the personal media accounts that use his real name are not owned by Infowars or FSS, but are controlled by him personally, and should be considered part of his "persona" that cannot be owned by someone other than himself. They argue that trustee Christopher Murray does not have a right to the social media accounts as property that can be sold, and warned that a purchaser could face lawsuits as to whether they were rightfully obtained.
- US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston said a proposed order regarding the potential sale of the social media accounts that preserved Jones' right to sue over ownership later was unclear, and tentatively scheduled another hearing in a week. "We should have great clarity and everybody agrees that something can be sold before it can be sold," Lopez said. "I want a purchaser or a bidder to know exactly what they think they can buy. I don't want to create litigation risk for a potential purchaser."
- The trustee is also seeking to be allowed to sell off the rights to royalties from Jones' book The Great Reset: And the War for the World published in August 2022, and his video game "Alex Jones NWO Wars" released in 2023. It features Jones as the hero in a shooting game.
- In seeking the rights to the social media accounts, the legal team for the trustee argued in court filings that Jones' X account, and others on Telegram, Gab, Parler, and other platforms, "are frequently used to promote and post Infowars content, and in some cases, have a significant number of followers." Jones' X account has nearly 3 million followers. The trustee argued that social media accounts of influencers, celebrities, and political personalities have become valuable assets, and that Jones' accounts have drawn particular interest from multiple parties in buying them.
- "We got comfortable with the trustee that if certain parties were the successful bidder, there would be litigation later, but if certain parties were the successful bidder, there wouldn't be litigation later," Vickie Driver, one of Jones' attorneys, told the judge. "There is value to some folks in buying these assets and using them in one way, and value to other folks to use them in another way," Driver said.
(Jones' supporters and foes are
competing to buy the Infowars brand. The auction house says final bids are due Nov. 8.)
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