Current:Home > ScamsAlex Jones spent over $93,000 in July. Sandy Hook families who sued him have yet to see a dime -Secure Growth Solutions
Alex Jones spent over $93,000 in July. Sandy Hook families who sued him have yet to see a dime
Algosensey View
Date:2025-04-09 08:33:59
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Alex Jones’ personal spending is frustrating families who are trying to collect on the $1.5 billion in judgments against him for calling the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting a hoax.
The conspiracy theorist and Infowars host has been paying his own wife, Erika Wulff Jones, $15,000 a month, according to the most recent spending report he filed in his bankruptcy case — payouts called “fraudulent transfers” by lawyers for some of the shooting victims’ families. Jones says they’re required under a prenuptial agreement.
In July, Jones spent $7,900 on housekeeping. He dished out more than $6,300 for meals and entertainment, not including groceries, which totaled nearly $3,400 — or roughly $850 per week.
A second home, his Texas lake house, cost him nearly $6,700 that month, including maintenance and property taxes, while his vehicles and boats sapped another $5,600, including insurance, maintenance and fuel.
His total personal expenses for July topped $93,000, up from nearly $75,000 in April, not including legal fees and other costs for his court cases, according to bankruptcy filings.
“It is disturbing that Alex Jones continues to spend money on excessive household expenditures and his extravagant lifestyle when that money rightfully belongs to the families he spent years tormenting,” said Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer for the families. “The families are increasingly concerned and will continue to contest these matters in court.”
In an Aug. 29 court filing, the lawyers for the families said that if Jones doesn’t reduce his personal expenses to a “reasonable” level, they will ask the judge to bar him from “further waste of estate assets,” appoint a trustee to oversee his spending, or dismiss the bankruptcy case.
On his Infowars show Tuesday, Jones said he’s not doing anything wrong.
“If anything, I like to go to nice restaurants. That is my deal. I like to go on a couple of nice vacations a year, but I think I pretty much have earned that in this fight,” he said, urging his audience to donate money for his legal expenses.
Sandy Hook families won nearly the $1.5 billion in judgments against Jones last year in lawsuits over repeated promotion of a false theory that the school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, never happened.
Relatives of the victims testified at the trials about being harassed and threatened by Jones’ believers, who sent threats and even confronted the grieving families in person, accusing them of being “crisis actors” whose children never existed.
Collecting the astronomical sum, though, is proving to be a long battle.
When Jones filed for bankruptcy, it put a hold on the families’ efforts to collect the $1.5 billion in state courts as a federal bankruptcy court judge decides how much money Jones can actually pay his creditors.
Lawyers for the families have said in court that it has been difficult for them to track Jones’ finances because of the numerous companies he owns and multiple deals among those corporate entities.
Meanwhile, Jones is still broadcasting. He and his media company, Free Speech Systems, are seeking court approval for a new contract that would pay him $1.5 million a year plus incentive bonuses, up from his current $520,000-a-year salary. The company also filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
On Infowars, Jones said Tuesday that he is more than $1 million in debt. If he gets the salary increase, he said, he would be left with about $300,000 a year after paying his legal bills.
“With all my expenses and things, that’s nothing,” he said. “And I don’t care about that. I’m wearing a shirt I bought, like, eight years ago, and I love it to death.”
Financial documents filed by Jones and his bankruptcy lawyers say his personal net worth is around $14 million. His assets include a home worth $2.6 million, a $2.2 million ranch, a $1.8 million lake house, a $500,000 rental property, and four vehicles and two boats worth more than $330,000 in total. Jones had nearly $800,000 in his bank accounts on July 31, court documents show.
Free Speech Systems, meanwhile, continues to rake in cash from the sale nutritional supplements, survival supplies and other merchandise that Jones hawks on Infowars, bringing in nearly $2.5 million in revenue in July alone, according to Jones’ financial reports, which he signed under penalty of perjury. The company’s expenses totaled about $2.4 million that month.
Meanwhile, some of the Sandy Hook families have another pending lawsuit claiming Jones hid millions of dollars in an attempt to protect his wealth. One of Jones’ lawyers has called the allegations “ridiculous.”
Jones, who is appealing the $1.5 billion in lawsuit awards against him, sat for a deposition in his bankruptcy case Tuesday and Wednesday in his hometown of Austin, Texas, where Infowars is based.
On his show Tuesday, he denied financial wrongdoing.
“I’m not Lex Luthor ... when it comes to finances and life,” he said. “I mean, I’m a straight-up guy. I’m a do-good in Mayberry RFD.”
veryGood! (628)
Related
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Former Afghan interpreter says Taliban tortured him for weeks but U.S. still won't give him a visa
- Every Real Housewife Who Has Weighed in on the Ozempic Weight Loss Trend
- Prisoners in Ecuador take 57 guards and police hostage as car bombs rock the capital
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- New FBI-validated Lahaina wildfire missing list has 385 names
- Gasoline tanker overturns, burns on Interstate 84 in Connecticut
- Robots are pouring drinks in Vegas. As AI grows, the city's workers brace for change
- Jorge Ramos reveals his final day with 'Noticiero Univision': 'It's been quite a ride'
- A week after scary crash at Daytona, Ryan Preece returns to Darlington for Southern 500
Ranking
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Aerosmith is in top form at Peace Out tour kickoff, showcasing hits and brotherhood
- Kristin Chenoweth marries Josh Bryant in pink wedding in Dallas: See the photos
- Bodies of two adults and two children found in Seattle house after fire and reported shooting
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- St. Jude's arm is going on tour: Catholic church announces relic's first-ever tour of US
- On the Road celebrates Labor Day with 85-year-old hospital cleaner working her dream job
- Jet skiers reportedly killed by Algerian coast guard after running out of gas
Recommendation
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
Bodycam footage shows fatal shooting of pregnant Black woman by Ohio police
What is melanin? It determines your eye, hair color and more.
Remains of Tuskegee pilot who went missing during WWII identified after 79 years
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
Russia moon probe crash likely left 33-foot-wide crater on the lunar surface, NASA images show
Olivia Rodrigo Responds to Theory That Vampire Song Is About Taylor Swift
How to make a meaningful connection with a work of art