By Maria Chutchian

(Reuters] – The Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims’ families demanded InfoWars’ bankruptcy be thrown out by court. They accuse the far-right wing website, seeking Chapter 11 relief for “sinister” purposes.

The families’ lawyers have brought defamation suits against InfoWars founder Alex Jones and InfoWars.

They claimed the bankruptcy case was filed not for any valid reason, but rather to forcibly settle with families and avoid proceeding to trials to determine how much they owe for defamation judgements related to Jones’ false claims about the school massacre being a hoax.

Randy Williams, a lawyer for several Connecticut families said he intends to request the court to dismiss his case as soon possible.

InfoWars holding firm, InfoW LLC and two other media assets held by Jones filed Chapter 11 on April 17, after Jones’ media companies and multiple defamation lawsuits were brought in Texas or Connecticut by relatives of victims.

Jones has falsely claimed the Newtown shooting in which twenty children were shot to death and six teachers was an elaborate hoax perpetrated by mainstream media and gun control advocates.

Jones tried to resolve the cases before but was rebuffed by their families. The bankruptcy prevented a trial in Texas to decide damages from starting Monday.

“Let me tell you, I think we have a sinister or unworthy purpose here,” J. Maxwell Beatty, who represents plaintiffs in the Texas case, said during Friday’s hearing.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s bankruptcy watchdog raised similar concerns.

Christopher Lopez from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court is the judge overseeing the bankruptcy. He raised questions about InfoW’s decision to file the case under a bankruptcy provision meant for small businesses. Kyung Lee, InfoW’s lawyer, said that he would provide more information at an April 29 hearing.

Lee also rejected the attacks on the bankruptcy, saying the case was filed “to preserve the means to pay” the families’ claims.

Marc Schwartz of the Houston-based firm Schwartz & Associates, who is expected to serve as InfoW’s chief restructuring officer, said on Friday that people involved with the case did not want Jones to personally file for bankruptcy because they didn’t want to harm the value associated with his name or “his ability to generate funds, to sell merchandise.”

Jones’ lawyer did not respond immediately to our request for comment.