NEW YORK — Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy on Friday, less than two months after a Connecticut jury awarded almost $1 billion in damages to plaintiffs who accused Jones of committing defamation when he called the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax.
Jones, the host of Infowars, filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas.
In the filing, Jones said he had between $1 million and $10 million in assets, falling far short of between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities.
The damages awarded in October to 15 plaintiffs -- relatives of victims and an FBI agent who responded to the shooting -- amounted to $965 million.
He said in the filing that he owes money to between 50 and 99 creditors.
Jones had claimed that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was performed by actors following a script written by government officials to bolster the push for gun control.
In a previous case, in Texas, Jones was ordered to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the shooting.