By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK The families of Sandy Hook victims are preparing to sue Alex Jones' wife and other family members to help satisfy $1.5 billion in judgments they won from lawsuits against the bankrupt right wing conspiracy theorist over his lies about the deadly 2012 U.S. school massacre.
Jones has engaged in "financial gymnastics" to hide his assets and avoid paying the judgments, spreading money to friends, family members, and shell companies, David Zensky, a lawyer for the families, said on Friday during a bankruptcy court hearing in Houston.
The families have a "very strong case" to claw back certain payments to Jones' family, including a $1 million payment from Jones to his wife, Zensky said.
U.S. bankruptcy law allows debtors or their creditors to unwind asset transfers that were made before bankruptcy in an effort to avoid paying debts.
The families have investigated about $62 million in transfers out of the Jones' company.
Jones' attorney, Vickie Driver, said Jones was not opposed to unwinding payments if they were proven to be improper, but he would prefer to appoint an independent expert for that work.
"You can imagine that if someone was to sue their wife over transfers, that's a little hard in the home," Driver said.
The families have accused Jones and FSS of profiting off lies about the shooting for years and sued him for defamation. They have won about $1.5 billion in two trials so far. Jones and his company Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection in December and July of last year.
Jones had claimed the killing of 20 students and six staff members in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, was staged with actors as part of a government plot to seize Americans' guns. Jones has since acknowledged the shooting occurred.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez, who is overseeing the bankruptcies, said Jones and the Sandy Hook families should make one last effort to reach a settlement.
"It's time for everyone to put their cards on the table," said Lopez, who set a July 21 deadline for mediation.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Marguerita Choy)