Alex Jones, his company’s net worth up to $270 million: Testimony

• Alex Jones and his multimedia company Free Speech Systems have a net worth of up to $270 million, a forensic economist testified.
• “He’s a very successful man,” forensic economist Bernard Pettingill said of Jones.
• Sandy Hook parents who sued Jones over his false “hoax” claims about the massacre are seeking punitive damages from him.

Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and the parent company that runs his website Infowars have a net worth of up to $270 million, a medical examiner testified in a Texas court on Friday.

The combined net worth of Jones and media company Free Speech Systems — which filed for bankruptcy last week — estimated at between $135 million and $270 million, forensic economist Bernard Pettingill said during his Sandy Hook libel trial against Jones.

“As unlucky as he is, as an outsider, he’s a very successful man,” Pettingill said of Jones as he likened the broadcaster to 13th-century Mongol warrior Genghis Khan.

“He didn’t ride a wave, he created the wave,” Pettingill told the court, explaining that he believes Jones is a “rebel.”

Pettingill testified that Jones “preached some hate speech and some misinformation, but he made a lot of money and he was making money.”

Jones has already been found liable in a Texas court for defaming two Sandy Hook parents who falsely claimed the 2012 mass shooting was a hoax.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis — the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was one of the 26 killed in the Newtown, Connecticut massacre — sued Jones, the founder of Infowars and Free Speech Systems, for defamation over his lies about with the mass shooting.

On Thursday, a jury awarded the parents more than $4 million in damages. now Jones faces additional penalties for his repeated lies.

Pettingill, who was hired by the plaintiffs to testify about Jones’ net worth, told the court that he tracked Jones’ funds and found that Jones earned $165 million from September 2015 to December 2018.

“It’s an average of $53.2 million a year, but that’s the starting point,” Pettingill said as he pointed to earlier testimony in the case from Jones who told the court Infowars had $70 million in revenue last year.