A Texas bankruptcy judge has rejected a proposed liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ company Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, saying that a denial of the bankruptcy plan was, in his opinion, in the best interest of the creditors. But the judge approved a separate liquidation of Jones’ personal assets.

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday moved to liquidate his personal assets, agreeing to demands from the families of Sandy Hook victims whom he owes more than $1.5 billion in damages over his lies about the 2012 school massacre.

The seismic move paves the way for a future in which Jones no longer owns Infowars, the influential conspiracy empire he founded in the late 1990s. Over the years, Jones has not only used the media company to poison the public discourse with vile lies and conspiracy theories, but also to enrich himself to the tune of millions of dollars.

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a US court to liquidate his assets, legal filings show, which could allow him to start paying damages he owes the familes of victims of a 2012 school shooting.

The surviving families of the Sandy Hook shooting have not yet seen any of $1.5bn (£1.32bn) Mr Jones was ordered to pay in 2022.

The request, filed in a Texas court on Thursday, could speed up payments to the families, some of whom have faced harassment over Mr Jones’s claims.

Mr Jones and his media company Infowars have been contacted for comment.

Alex Jones will liquidate his assets to help pay off a $1.5 billion defamation judgment against him after he was sued by the families of the children who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting for saying that the massacre was a hoax.

Jones, the host of the popular Infowars site, has asked a US judge to convert his bankruptcy into a Chapter 7 liquidation, giving up on an effort to settle the judgments related to his lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

After a weekend in which conspiracy theorist Alex Jones warned that his media company faced an imminent shutdown by the federal government because of his bankruptcy cases, a judge on Monday allowed Jones to keep operating for the next two weeks while it is decided whether his assets should be liquidated.

Facing nearly $1.5 billion in payments to the victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, conspiracy theorist and InfoWars host Alex Jones received a judge's go-ahead to sell his $2.8 million Texas ranch and said his InfoWars studios in Austin could be next.

Over the weekend, the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims requested that Alex Jones’s media organization be liquidated by a bankruptcy judge.

“Liquidation could mean that Jones would have to sell most of what he owns, including his company and its assets, but could keep his home and other personal belongings that are exempt from bankruptcy liquidation. Proceeds would go to his creditors, including the Sandy Hook families,” AP News reported.

Family members of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting victims offered to settle the $1.5bn (£1.32bn) debt owed by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

They said they would accept the sale of Mr Jones's assets, or a minimum of $85m (£67m) over 10 years.

Mr Jones admitted making repeated false claims about the deaths, which led to harassment of the victims' families.

The Sandy Hook families sued Jones over those false claims and won the $1.5bn judgement last year.

Sandy Hook families who won nearly $1.5 billion in legal judgments against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for calling the 2012 Connecticut school shooting a hoax have offered to settle that debt for only pennies on the dollar — at least $85 million over 10 years.

The offer was made in Jones' personal bankruptcy case in Houston last week. In a legal filing, lawyers for the families said they believed the proposal was a viable way to help resolve the bankruptcy reorganization cases of both Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.

A college student who survived the deadly shooting that killed three students and critically wounded five others Monday night at Michigan State University was also at the horrific Sandy Hook massacre over 10 years ago.

“I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through,” Jackie Matthews said in an emotional TikTok video shared early Tuesday.

Now a senior at MSU, Matthews was a student at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012, when gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 students and six teachers and staff.