Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered Wednesday to pay nearly $1 billion in compensation to the families of victims of the 2012 school massacre, which he denied, AFP reported.

Alex Jones claimed that the relatives of the students killed at the Sandy Hook school in Connecticut were actors. A Connecticut jury ruled that he must pay them and the FBI agent $965 million in defamation, pain and suffering damages.

The families sued Alex Jones, saying they were being stalked by fans of the conspiracy theorist, convinced the massacre never happened and grieving relatives played a role.

In 2012, a young man armed with a semi-automatic rifle killed 20 children and six adults in Sandy Hook.

Relatives of the victims were present in the courtroom and cried during the announcement of the verdict.

Alex Jones watched the hearing live on his Infowars website and said he planned to appeal, saying he didn’t even have “two million euros in cash”.

Earlier in Texas, the owner of the Infowars website was ordered to pay nearly $50 million to a couple whose six-year-old son died in Sandy Hook.

The conspiracy theorist has finally publicly acknowledged the reality of the crime. But he refused to cooperate with the courts, so judges in both states sentenced him in absentia. They left the verdict to the jury.