No, Alex Jones wasn’t fined $150 billion for warning about COVID-19 ‘crimes’ | Fact check
The claim: Alex Jones fined $150 billion for warning about COVID-19 ‘crimes’
An Aug. 31 Threads post (direct link, archive link) shows images of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
“Apologized for Covid Crimes,” reads text on Zuckerberg’s image. “FINED $0.”
“WARNS about Covid Crimes,” reads text on Jones’ image. “FINED $150B+”
It was liked more than 1,000 times in four days. Another version of the claim on Instagram accumulated more than 10,000 likes before it was deleted.
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Our rating: False
Jones has not been fined $150 billion for warning about COVID-19 “crimes,” though he has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to families of Sandy Hook shooting victims.
Jones told to pay almost $1.5 billion to Sandy Hook families
Jones used his Infowars show to promote various conspiracy theories for years, but there is no evidence to support the post’s claim that he was fined $150 billion for warning about crimes related to COVID-19. No credible media outlets have reported on any such development.
However, Jones has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to the families of the Sandy Hook mass shooting victims. The shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. The 20-year-old gunman killed himself as police arrived at the school.
Hours later, Jones described the shooting as “staged” by gun control advocates, the Austin American-Statesman reported. He later portrayed grieving parents as paid “crisis actors” and claimed the shooting never happened. He has since acknowledged that it did take place, according to the Associated Press.
In 2018, families of some victims filed lawsuits against Jones in Connecticut and Texas, claiming they were harassed and threatened by Jones’ supporters. After a three-week trial in 2022, a Connecticut jury decided Jones would have to pay at least $965 million in compensatory damages to the families, and a judge tacked on $473 million in punitive damages.
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Jones filed for bankruptcy after those rulings, and a judge eventually ordered that his personal assets be liquidated, Reuters reported. In June, the Associated Press reported that a bankruptcy court trustee planned to “conduct an orderly wind-down” of Infowars’ parent company and “liquidate its inventory.”
There has been no such lawsuit related to COVID-19 statements, but New York Attorney General Letitia James sent Jones a cease and desist letter in March 2020 accusing him of fraudulently marketing and selling “toothpaste, dietary supplements, creams and several other products as treatments to prevent and cure (COVID-19),” according to a press release.
The post’s reference to Zuckerberg comes after the Facebook founder said in a letter to the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration pressured the company to censor COVID-19 content in 2021, as USA TODAY previously reported.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Austin American-Statesman, June 6, Timeline: Legal fallout from Alex Jones’ false claims that Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax
- Associated Press, Oct. 1, 2021, Alex Jones loses lawsuits over Sandy Hook ‘hoax’ conspiracy
- Associated Press, June 24, Bankruptcy trustee discloses plan to shut down Alex Jones’ Infowars and liquidate assets
- The New York Times, April 17, 2018, Sandy Hook Parents Sue Alex Jones for Defamation
- CNN, Aug. 6, 2018, Six more Sandy Hook families sue broadcaster Alex Jones
- Reuters, Oct. 12, 2022, Alex Jones must pay Sandy Hook families nearly $1 billion for hoax claims, jury says
- Reuters, Nov. 10, 2022, Alex Jones ordered to pay $473 million in punitive damages in Sandy Hook defamation case
- Reuters, Dec. 2, 2022, Alex Jones files for bankruptcy following $1.5 billion Sandy Hook verdicts
- New York Attorney General, March 12, 2020, Attorney General James Orders Alex Jones to Stop Selling Fake Coronavirus Treatments
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