A court-appointed bankruptcy trustee stated on Sunday that he intends to shut down Alex Jones' Infowars company but aims to prevent what he called a "money grab" by families who sued Jones over the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
Trustee Christopher Murray said he has begun "planning to wind down [Infowars owner Free Speech Systems] and liquidate its inventory" to repay the $1.5 billion owed to the families of 20 students and 6 staff members killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
However, Murray noted that this effort is being threatened by recent collection actions by some families. Murray was appointed on June 14 to oversee the sale of Jones' assets.
Two Sandy Hook parents, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, had sought a court order to allow them to seize FSS’s cash, while Murray has requested that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez block this move.
Murray wrote: "The threat of rapidly seizing FSS assets, including cash, could throw the company into chaos and possibly halt operations. The trustee requests court intervention to prevent this value-destructive money grab and allow an orderly process to proceed."
FSS’s chief restructuring officer testified on June 14 that the company has more than $6 million in cash and about $1 million in unsold inventory, primarily health supplements.
