Alex Jones files for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $1.5bn for his Sandy Hook lies

(AP)

Alex Jones has filed for personal bankruptcy protections weeks after the conspiracy theorist and the company behind his InfoWars platform were ordered to pay roughly $1.5bn in damages for defaming the families of victims from the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre.

He filed for bankruptcy on 2 December in Texas where his InfoWars site already is under chapter 11 bankruptcy protections.

Last month, a Connecticut court ordered him to pay $473m in damages in addition to a nearly $1bn verdict following a defamation case brought by the families of victims of the 2012 massacre that he falsely claimed was faked.

His own filing halts their ability to collect judgments against him.

The filing in Houston claims that Jones has between $1m and $10m of assets and between $1bn and $10bn in liabilities.

This is a developing story