Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist, has been ordered to pay $965 million for his lies in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.
A jury in Connecticut, after hearing testimony from parents and siblings of the victims, decided Wednesday that Jones promoted a lie that the 2012 massacre never happened. He said that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away people’s guns. The 48-year-old also called the proceedings a “kangaroo court,” mocked the judge and also called the plaintiffs’ lawyer an ambulance chaser.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place on December 14. Twenty children and six adults died. The trial was held in Waterbury, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where the attack took place.
Who is Alex Jones?
Alex Jones is a far-right conspiracy theorist and radio show host. He hosts The Alex Jones Show from Austin. The 48-year-old also runs websites – InfoWars, NewsWars and PrisonPlanet – which promote conspiracy theories.
Born on February 11, 1974, in Dallas, Texas, Jones was raised in Rockwall. His father was a dentist and his mother was a homemaker. He claims Irish, German, Welsh, English, and Comanche descent.
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He attended Anderson High School and graduated in 1993. Jones then briefly attended Austin Community College before dropping out.
When a bomb went off in a terror attack in Oklahoma City in 1995, Jones claimed that the government was behind it.
Jones started his career working on a live, call-in format public-access cable television program. In 1996, he switched to radio. He hosted a show named The Final Edition on KJFK. The 48-year-old was influenced by radio host William Copper and began to broadcast about the New World Order conspiracy theory
In 1999, Jones tied with Shannon Burke for that year’s poll of “Best Austin Talk Radio Host”. Later that year, he was fired from KJFK-FM for refusing to broaden his topics.
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He then started InfoWars in 1999 with his then-wife Kelly Jones. In November 2016, the InfoWars website received approximately 10 million visits.
Net worth:
As per a forensic economist who testified at the trial, Bernard Pettingill, Alex Jones’ net worth is valued between $135 and $270 million. Infowars alone averaged about $53.2 million in annual revenue in recent years.
