Business AP: Bank that handles Infowars money appears to be cutting ties with Alex Jones' company, lawyer says

Bank that handles Infowars money appears to be cutting ties with Alex Jones' company, lawyer says
Associated Press (archive.ph)
By Dave Collins
2023-09-28 18:02:16GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A bank recently shut down the accounts of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media company, citing unauthorized transactions — a move that caused panic at the business when its balances suddenly dropped from more than $2 million to zero, according to a lawyer for the company.

The action last week by Axos Bank also exposed worry and doubt at the company, Free Speech Systems, about being able to find another bank to handle its money.

Jones, a conservative provocateur whose Infowars program promotes fake theories about global conspiracies, UFOs and mind control, is seeking bankruptcy protection as he and his company owe $1.5 billion to relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

The debt is the result of the families winning lawsuits against Jones for his calling the massacre that killed 26 people a hoax and his supporters threatening and harassing the victims’ families.

A lawyer for Free Speech Systems, Ray Battaglia, told a federal bankruptcy judge in Houston on Tuesday that Axos Bank had shut down the company’s accounts on Aug. 21 “without notice or warning.”

Battaglia said he and a court-appointed overseer of Free Speech Systems’ finances were both out of the country when they received “frantic” messages about the company’s bank balances dropping to zero.

Bank officials, he said, didn’t provide much information.

According to Battaglia, Axos claimed it had contacted Free Speech Systems in July about a transaction and the company did not respond, which Battaglia disputed. The bank also indicated there were unauthorized transactions, but didn’t go into detail, he said. He said the bank informed Jones’ company that it would be sending a cashier’s check for the total balance.

“So we’re perplexed,” Battaglia told the bankruptcy judge. “We have no answers for the court. They (the bank) have not provided us with any.”

Battaglia said the media company will have to seek another bank or take Axos to court “because we just don’t know who will bank us.” At the request of Jones’ lawyers, Axos did agree to reopen the company’s accounts for 30 days but it appears it will not extend the relationship beyond that, he said.

Spokespeople for Axos did not return email messages seeking comment Wednesday. An email sent to Infowars also went unanswered, as have previous messages.

Jones and Free Speech Systems make the bulk of their money from selling nutritional supplements, survival gear, books, clothing and other merchandise, which Jones hawks on his daily web and radio show.

According to the company’s most recent financial statement filed in bankruptcy court, it had more than $2.5 million in its Axos accounts at the end of August after bringing in more than $3 million in revenue during the month. The company paid out over $2 million in expenses and other costs, leaving a net cash flow of $1 million.

The bankruptcy judge, Christopher Lopez, will be deciding how much money Jones and Free Speech Systems will have to pay creditors, including the Sandy Hook families. Jones is appealing the court awards, citing free speech rights and missteps by judges.

In 2018, social media companies including Facebook, YouTube and Apple banned Jones from their platforms. It is not clear if Jones’ views have anything to do with Axos Bank’s actions.

 

[KatanaSenshi]

He's controlled opposition. That or just a retarded goy.

He went full controlled opposition after the 911, but he knows what's going on and still slips in truth bombs here and there.

I think they are cutting off and sucking dry Jones because there are better (((right wing))) loyal goy bots now, like Tim Pool or Steven Crowder, who would never EVER cross the line. Jones has become more of a liability.

Spoiler

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

You live in a present time where these two gentlemen were debanked for not having the right views of society. I wonder when it’s going to be time to stop making fun of these people anymore.

Right now, you’re making it real hard to not sympathize with them.

 

[Ed Special]

Just build your own banking system :^)

 

[Kiwi Lime Pie]

is there some rationale for this? What possible reason in the law could there be, even relating to fighting the evil terrorists, for banks to be able to withhold your own money for you--for six months? Why six? Why not forever, if at all? If not forever, why--period? I know why they can and do do it in practice, but you're supposed to pretend to not be evil on the surface.

This sounds suspiciously familiar to a different yet possibly related portion of the law. Someone I know whose spouse died had the deceased's final social security check withheld for unspecified reasons under what was said to be the "green book act/law" and that it could be up to six months before the money was released again. In this instance, it took all six months for the money to be released back to the surviving spouse, the bank folks couldn't explain why this is the case, and they reluctantly conceded that this rule would hurt seniors on fixed incomes who relied on or otherwise needed that money for daily household expenses.

The point of this story? Government entities and laws may start from good intentions, but they get expanded and corrupted beyond their original intent to have either too much unintended collateral damage or they encompass items that weren't intended to be in the law's original scope or reach. It's scary how much is done and how much information is collected in the name of fighting terrorism that on the surface seems dubious at best in terms of achieving that goal.
Edited for clarity.

 

[Dr Cruel]

Government entities and laws may start from good intentions, but they get corrupted beyond their original intent have either too much unintended collateral damage or expand to items that never intended to be in the law's scope or reach.

Sound like the clause in the US Constitution regulating interstate commerce.

https://www.heritage.org/the-constitution/report/commerce-commerce-everywhere-the-uses-and-abuses-the-commerce-clause

Just build your own banking system

It was our banking system. The corporate Leftists stole it.

 

[Tiny Chinaman]

The bank has been trying to turn me gay for years

 

[Tree]

First they came for Joshua Moon and Kiwi Farms, and I didn't care because fuck those losers.
Then they came for Alex Jones and InfoWars, and I didn't care because I wanted to make the frogs gay.
Then they came for me, and when I asked for help, Josh and Alex said, "lolno."

Never liked this argument.

It hides the political reality that you (in a political capacity) have a moral obligation to punish your enemies when it is in your power to do so. When it's not, you should be maneuvering so that it is, and to undermine your enemies' efforts to do the same. It simultaneously paints the idea that being politically proactive is somehow wrong, the idea that you should protect minority interest groups unthinkingly, that minority groups are neutral actors, and reduces collective consideration down to personal interest, all while hiding behind the notion of being for the little guy. It was very much identified for its perverse nature to be taught in all American public schools and blasted into popular consciousness.

I understand that in this case it's being used it in our favor, but it's important for people not to adopt it as a general moral sentiment, because doing so renders people unable to justify actions necessary to retaining their own sovereignty. I mean all you got to do to see the stark effects of this is look at how people can't find the collective framework to act in exceptional capacity against a government which is purposefully neglecting their borders.

"Fixing social problems is bad because then YOU will be the problem" is just asinine. Yet there are certain people who think this way instinctively, who, regardless of ability, belong nowhere near power.

That said, we obviously should do what we can to help Josh and Alex Jones, not because of some fake and gay individual-brained reasoning, but because (and insofar as) they are friends who stand with us against our enemies, and we can't win if we don't sacrifice for each other.

 

[Ser Prize]

The way they've fucked Alex Jones beyond repair has convinced me that Sandy Hook was actually a government operation of some kind more than any conspiracy theory ever did. They let that drunken Zionist retard scream slanderous nonsense from the rooftops for decades and somehow that incident in particular hit a $1.5 billion nerve?

Judging from the fact they had to demolish the building and additional houses I'm guessing it's more Finders tier satantic CIA child rape smuggling.

Satanic Panic was justified btw. They found tunnels under the school.

 

[Working]

>deplatformed
>forced to pay an outrageous amount by the court
^^^OFFICIAL JOEOVER POINT YOU SHOULD HAVE CUT &or RAN
>debanked
Yup its so over only thing left to do is get a nice cabin somewhere and think about industrial society and its future

 

[Dr Cruel]

First we murdered the deposed tsar and his children, because his aristocracy made a ruin of Russia.

Then we came for our Leftist allies, because they were not true allies and had ideas of their own.

Then we came for the kulaks, because they were counter-revolutionaries and needed to learn a lesson.

Then we sided with the National Socialists, because we liked their ideas about capitalism and Jews.

Then we came for our national neighbors, to make them part of our proletarian paradise.

Then we came for the rest of the dissidents, using psychiatry as an excuse to torture them mercilessly.

Now we're selling illegal drugs and castrating children in the schools, and everyone hates us.

Must be white supremacy at work.

 

[BrainSand63]

Forgive me for being late and gay with this question, but if I’m Alex Jones, how am I supposed to pay 1.5 billion in debt? He’ll never make that much money, nothing he owns is worth that much, and you can’t throw people in prison for debt. If I’m him, and I lose my appeals, how is that 1.5 billion anything other than a number on paper?

I understand they’ll take money from him for the rest of his life, but he’ll never pay off the full debt, so why even give a shit? Hell, I’d probably quit my businesses and just start living off of government gibs so that they basically pay themselves with their own money, just to stick it to them. What’s the point anyway? I’m curious to see if my logic here is way off or there really is no point in him worrying about a debt so big he’ll never get out from under it.

This whole $1.5 billion is just them making an example of him, like how they’ve given out stupidly long prison sentences to the January 6th protestors.

 

[AltisticRight]

Enough of this.
Sue.
Nothing to lose and everything to gain.

>Sue bank
gl hf

 

[Cpt. Stud Beefpile]

And then one day, for no reason at all, people voted Hitler into power.

Closest we had in 100 years was Harold Covington and unfortunately he just couldn't put away the Juden est schwein talk, because he was also the only man with a half-possible plan. The Jan 6th LARP was the closest the so-called 'right wing' will ever get to a revolution.

In both cases, I weep.

 

[Devil Buster Busters]

how is he supposed to pay his 6 gorillion dollar fine with no bank?

 

[Dr Cruel]

And then one day, for no reason at all, people voted Hitler into power.

Better watch that talk. I once claimed National Socialists did things for reasons and have been harassed by Episcopalians for months. Even said I got this from Timothy Snyder but they would have none of it.

 

[Kermit Jizz]

how is he supposed to pay his 6 gorillion dollar fine with no bank?

This was all a long con to repossess his supplements. They're envious of his raw masculine vitality.

 

[Archeopthryx]

Did he get too many chargebacks or something?

 

[Dr Cruel]

If I’m him, and I lose my appeals, how is that 1.5 billion anything other than a number on paper?

It makes him shut up, and gives the US bureaucracy permanent permission to screw with him whenever they want. For example, they can go through his home and belongings on the pretext that he's hiding money. The idea is to convince him to lay low, leave the country or kill himself. He also acts as an example for anyone else who thinks their free speech rights protect them from the anger of the liberal aristocracy.

 

[anustart76]

If they can do it to him, they can do it to you. And they want to do it to you. They are coming after us. Men like Jones, Null, Trump, etc, are just in the way right now. Once they fall, we the no-name people who support liberty are next.

There has to be some way to get past this, there just has to, because as pessimistic as I am, I really don't want to think we're all fucked and there's nothing we can do about it.

 

[RedMage]

Hence why when you shop around for a bank, look through their socials and website. Try to be thorough to see what their messaging is and understand their values.

And stick with locals for better mileage.