Alex Jones Offers $55 Million to Sandy Hook Families to Satisfy $1.5 Billion Judgment

 Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

   Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has reportedly proposed a settlement of $55 million over a 10-year period to the families of the Sandy Hook victims who sued him. The families took legal action against Jones for disseminating false claims that the 2012 school massacre in Connecticut, considered one of the worst in American history, was a hoax.

Following a Texas judge's ruling that Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to evade the nearly $1.5 billion he was ordered to pay to the victims' families of the Sandy Hook massacre, Jones has put forth an offer. In a 30-page plan submitted on Friday, Jones proposed paying a lump sum of at least $5.5 million annually to be shared among the plaintiffs. This payment would be accompanied by a percentage of his personal annual revenue and a portion of Infowars' revenue, and the debt would be considered satisfied after a 10-year period.

Avi Moshenberg, a lawyer representing the families, noted that this marks the first time Jones has revealed a plan to compensate the families for the harm caused. In November, the families' lawyers proposed a settlement of at least $8.5 million annually for a 10-year period.

The recently submitted plan by Alex Jones to pay $55 million over 10 years to the Sandy Hook families requires approval from the US bankruptcy court for the southern district of Texas. Final hearings in the case are set for late February.

Jones filed for bankruptcy last year, but a judge ruled in October that bankruptcy protections do not apply due to findings of "willful and malicious" conduct. This ruling also granted the families the right to demand payment for the remainder of Jones's working life. Opting to accept Jones's new offer would entail forfeiting that right.

Following the tragic 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 26 people, including children and teachers, lost their lives, Alex Jones spent years disseminating misinformation about the massacre. Jones propagated false claims that the school shooting was a hoax orchestrated to manipulate Americans' views on firearms and alleged that the families of the victims were "crisis actors."