A 12-person Texas jury ordered Alex Jones, the far-right Infowars founder, to pay the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims $4.1 million for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax.

Lawyers for the families of the school shooting victims had asked for $150 million. The verdict, signed by 10 members of the jury, decided on the amount. Jones indicated that any amount over $2 million would put him into bankruptcy. 

Jones admitted at his trial on Wednesday that the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 children was “100% real.” He had been profiting from promoting that the shooting was a hoax and had been pushing his conspiracy theories for years on his Infowars broadcasts. 

He admitted it was irresponsible of him to claim that the massacre was staged for political reasons, allegedly related to gun control. 

The verdict was read after a two-week trial in Austin, Texas, where Jones’s radio show and webcast Infowars are based.

The jury will also be tasked with considering the parent’s request for more punitive damages for defamation – spreading lies about the children and staff killed in Newtown, Connecticut on that terrible 2012 day.

Jones may also face perjury and obstruction of justice charges for lying about text messages.