AUSTIN, Texas — The video above is from November 2011
Alex Jones is facing a new lawsuit in Texas over accusations that the Infowars host hid millions of dollars in assets after families of Sandy Hook victims began taking him to court.
Relatives of some of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, massacre have already won defamation lawsuits against Jones after he said the shootings never happened. The new lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday, comes as trials are set for this year over how much he should pay.
“After Alex Jones was sued for claiming the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary was a hoax, the infamous conspiracy theorist conspired to divert his assets to shell companies owned by insiders like his parents, his children, and himself," reads the lawsuit, which was filed in Austin, Texas, by some of the Sandy Hook families.
According to the lawsuit, Jones is accused of drawing about $18 million from his Infowars company over three years, starting in 2018 when the defamation lawsuits were filed. Jones is also accused of claiming a “dubious” $54 million debt around that time to another company, which the lawsuit alleges is indirectly or directly owned by Jones.
Norm Pattis, an attorney for Jones, said there was no effort to hide assets.
“The suggestion is ridiculous. We look forward to litigating these issues," Pattis said in an email Friday.
The lawsuit was first reported by the Austin American-Statesman.
The lawsuit was filed the same day Jones was questioned by lawyers for the Sandy Hook families. A judge had ordered the him to face mounting fines until he appeared for a deposition.