Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist, has filed for bankruptcy.
The families of those killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting are owed about $1.5 billion in damages by Jones, the creator of the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars.
After claiming that the parents of the dead students and teachers were actors who staged the atrocity, he was sued.
The gunshot, according to Jones, 48, was “phoney as a three-dollar bill” and the entire incident was manufactured, he alleged, in an effort to restrict gun rights.
For the harm his lies caused, he was forced to pay $1.4 billion in a Connecticut case and $45 million in a Texas case.
He has said that he will appeal the judgments, as have his attorneys.
Twenty students, all six or seven years old, and six employees perished in the Connecticut shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.
According to a court document, Jones applied for chapter 11 protection from creditors at the Houston, Texas, US bankruptcy court.
He claimed in documents that he has between $1 million and $10 million in assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities.
A business or individual can submit a reorganisation plan under Chapter 11 bankruptcy that will allow them to continue operating while simultaneously paying off their obligations.
Because of his conspiracy ideas, the divisive host has been barred from almost all mainstream social platforms.
He continues to broadcast programming to a loyal internet audience on his own channel.
Kanye West joined Jones on Thursday for an interview during which the rapper glorified Hitler, which made headlines throughout the world.
Despite West’s views on the Nazis, footage of Jones’ conversation with the rapper were extensively shared, leading to Jones’ social media banishment.
“You’re not Hitler, you’re not a Nazi, so you don’t deserve to be called that and demonised,” he told the rapper.
West responded, his face concealed by a black mask the entire time, “Well, I see nice things about Hitler likewise.
I love everyone, and Jews won’t tell me, “You can love, you know, us.” Every person, particularly Hitler, contributed something worthwhile to the world.
Jones, who was raised in Dallas, Texas, started his career in cable TV in the 1990s, when his conspiracy theories helped him gain a cult following.
He cofounded InfoWars in 1999, a website that gained popularity in internet conspiracy circles and had more than 10 million visitors per month in 2017.
The site’s parent firm, Free Speech Systems LLC, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year as a result of several disputes and lawsuits.
Along with the Sandy Hook hoax, he was notorious for spreading the “Pizzagate” hoax, which claimed that a prominent Democratic paedophile abuse network was operating out of a Washington, DC, restaurant.