AUSTIN, TX (CelebrityAccess) — The Federal Communications Commission has taken controversial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ flagship radio station off the air, for now at least, and levied a $15,000 against its operators.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, a federal lawsuit filed this week accuses Liberty Radio of operating an FM broadcasting station without a license since at least 2013.
Liberty went off the air in December, but has been providing content via digital streaming the Statesman reported. In its place, the station has been airing religious broadcasting.
According to court documents, FCC enforcement agents, responding to a complaint, were able to track down the source of Liberty Radio’s signal to an apartment complex in East Austin. FCC agents said that the radio station was being operated out of a transmitter in utility room connected to a 50-foot mast at the complex.
Local records indicate that the complex has been the subject of numerous nuisance complaints. The property is owned by a business entity connected to Walter Olenick and M. Rae Nadler-Olenick, who are two of the defendants listed in the Liberty Radio lawsuit, the American-Statesman reported.
According to the Washington Post, a letter entered into evidence by the FCC says the Olenicks refused to pay the fine or recognize the FCC’s authority and said they would consider employees as trespassers should they return to the property.
Jones, who has made a career out of promoting anti-government conspiracy theories on radio and the internet, has run into a series of setbacks recently after his content has been pulled from multiple distribution channels, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and Facebook.
Earlier this week, Jones was also suspended from the social media service Twitter over a post that appeared to incite violence. However, the suspension was only for a week.
