Infowars.com
The City of Los Angeles is demanding payment from Infowars over the removal of “illegally posted signs” that were not produced by Infowars nor posted by any of its employees.
A letter from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office claims that, “An investigation has disclosed that you or your agent(s) have illegally posted signs on public property,” adding that such activity is a violation of California Penal Code.
The letters (one of which is posted below) demand payments totaling over $1,000 dollars within 20 days for the cost of removing the signs and threatens that more than three administrative fines will see the charge escalated to a misdemeanor which will be subject to “criminal violations.”
However, the title of the removed signs is listed as, “VICTORY YOU ARE NOT ALONE UNITED WE STAND.”
Infowars has never produced bumper stickers or signs of any kind that feature this text.
Alex Jones comments, “This is a conscious fraud – the city of Los Angeles knows full well that we are not liable for someone else’s activities. There’s no due process, no evidence, no citation, nothing. The city of Los Angeles is engaging in unconstitutional extortion using terroristic threats of civil and criminal penalties and are threatening our credit if we don’t pay them more than a thousand dollars. By simply searching the term “Obama street art LA,” you can find hundreds of murals, sign and other street art depicting Obama in a favorable light. Under Los Angeles’ delusional legal theories, Barack Obama must immediately pay hundreds of dollars for each infraction.”
See examples of the Obama street art below.
A letter sent by Infowars in response to the fine reads, “We are not responsible for someone else’s actions. We are not in Los Angeles, nor do we have agents in Los Angeles. We do not have signs, stickers, or any such material that reads “VICTORY YOU ARE NOT ALONE, UNITED WE STAND.”
“This actually seems like a good way to set someone up. What would happen if someone posted Barack Obama stickers around town? Would you send this same letter/invoice to him? What if the signs read lacity.org? Do you see how ridiculous this is?”
Despite the fact that the signs posted in L.A. were not produced by Infowars and had nothing to do with the company, the stickers that we do retail are all sold with the following proviso.
“Infowars Stickers are only intended for legal and lawful use. Please refrain from defacing any public property. Respect your fellow citizens’ private property rights and do not post stickers without prior consent. Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems, LLC do not condone any illegal, prohibited or disrespectful use of Infowars.com stickers and are not liable for any damages resulting from the inappropriate use of these stickers.”
This has been going on for months and we have sent the city of L.A. three letters with no response. Authorities are simply trying to extort money on completely baseless legal grounds.
Read one of the invoice demands from the City of Los Angeles as well as our response below.