Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 bn for Sandy Hook lies

A memorial for the victioms of the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

Alex Jones, at a November 2020 rally in Atlanta, Georgia, has been found liable in multiple defamation lawsuits brought by relatives of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting

A US jury ordered far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Wednesday to pay nearly $1 billion in damages for falsely claiming that the deadly 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was a "hoax."

The jury in Connecticut, where the massacre took place, awarded $965 million to the families of eight Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who brought the defamation case against Jones.

"It shows that the internet is not the wild, wild west and that your actions have consequences," said Bill Sherlach, whose wife, Mary, died at Sandy Hook. "People like Alex Jones will have to rethink what they say and how they say it."

The 48-year-old Jones claimed for years on his show that the Sandy Hook shooting was "staged" by gun control activists and that the parents were "crisis actors," but has since acknowledged it was "100 percent real."

They explained they were harassed and threatened by Jones's fans.

"I am incredibly proud and thankful of the message we sent here today: The truth matters. And those who profit off of other people’s trauma will pay for what they’ve done," she said in a statement after the verdict.

Jones was also accused of pulling in massive profits from various products he sold on his website.

The latest trial was held in Waterbury, Connecticut, less than 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Newtown.

William Aldenberg, an FBI agent who responded to the Sandy Hook shooting and joined the families in filing the lawsuit against Jones, was awarded $90 million in damages.

InfoWars declared bankruptcy in April and another company owned by Jones, Free Speech Systems, also recently filed for bankruptcy.

"This is what a show trial is like," he said, while appealing to his listeners to visit his website and buy his products.

"We believe it is historic and we are going to enforce this verdict," Mattei told reporters.

"All Alex Jones does is take from you, exploit you, lie to you, feed your fears and your anxieties and your mistrust," he said. "Well, that stops, that's stopping today, thanks to the courage of these families."

Trump appeared frequently on Jones' radio show during his 2016 White House campaign and Jones was in Washington when supporters of the then-president stormed Congress in a bid to prevent certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.

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