Texas appoints receiver to liquidate Infowars for Sandy Hook families

A Texas judge has appointed a court-appointed receiver to seize and sell Infowars assets in order to satisfy more than $1 billion in judgments owed to families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The order gives the receiver authority to take control of Free Speech Systems, the Infowars parent company, and to liquidate its property, with proceeds directed to the families. The development could clear a path for the satirical site The Onion to pursue another bid to acquire Infowars, potentially ending Alex Jones’s stewardship of the platform that propagated false claims about the massacre.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin granted the appointment of Gregory Milligan as receiver, empowering him to collect accounts receivable, change locks at properties housing Infowars assets, access storage facilities and safes, and exercise control over Jones’s websites. The order also directs law enforcement officers to assist the receiver in carrying out his duties. The immediate effect is to limit Jones’s ability to control the Infowars brand and its associated assets, raising the prospect of a sale in the near term.

The move follows years of litigation in which...