A federal bankruptcy judge has paused The Onion’s purchase of Alex Jones’s Infowars platform in light of objections raised by Jones and his legal team over the auction process.
The satirical news outlet emerged as the successful bidder on Nov. 14 in an auction related to Jones’s personal bankruptcy. Shortly after the announcement, the Infowars headquarters in Austin, Texas, and its associated websites were temporarily shut down but went live again on Nov. 15 after complaints from those in charge of the purchase.
Judge Christopher Lopez has scheduled a hearing for next week to investigate the auction proceedings and the trustee’s decision to select The Onion over the only other bidder, a company affiliated with a website that sells Jones-branded products.
The bankruptcy trustee, Christopher Murray, revealed in court on Nov. 14 that he chose The Onion’s bid despite it being lower than the $3.5 million offered by the Jones-affiliated First United American Companies. Murray explained that The Onion’s offer included an incentive from some Sandy Hook families to forgo a portion of the sale proceeds in favor of other creditors, making it more beneficial overall, he said in court.
Jones and a lawyer for First United American Companies have raised concerns about the transparency of the auction process and the legality of The Onion’s bid, questioning an alleged change in the sales process on Nov. 11—after the bids were submitted—by Murray, who chose not to hold a round of bidding on Nov. 13. Murray denied any impropriety and said he followed the judge’s auction rules.
The upcoming hearing will determine if Murray conducted the auction properly and if The Onion’s selection was valid. Depending on the evidence presented from both sides, the judge could choose to reopen the sale or proceed with finalizing The Onion’s bid.
The auction is part of Jones’s bankruptcy following a $1.5 billion judgment against him for defamation related to his false claims about the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting. Jones had repeatedly called the 2012 massacre a hoax, leading to harassment and threats against the victims’ families by his followers, relatives of the families have said.
The Onion said it plans to relaunch Infowars in January 2025 as a parody of Jones and conspiracy theorists, according to statements from the company’s CEO.
“Our goal in a couple of years is for people to think of Infowars as the funniest and dumbest website that exists,” Ben Collins, the Onion’s CEO, told The Associated Press. “It was previously the dumbest website that exists.”
As of the morning of Nov. 15, Infowars and its websites were back online, with Jones broadcasting from a new studio. On his show, Jones said that Murray had informed him it was wrong to shut down Infowars before the sale was finalized.
Lopez’s 20-page order on the sale procedures, which was issued in September, made a bidding round optional and provided Murray with broad authority when conducting the sale. This included the power to reject any bid, regardless of its value, if it was deemed “contrary to the best interests” of Jones, his company, and their creditors, according to the court documents.
On Nov. 14, the judge expressed concerns about the auction process and transparency during a hastily called court hearing in Houston. Both sides are expected to present evidence at next week’s hearing, according to statements made in court.
As part of Jones’s bankruptcy, his personal assets and Infowars’s parent company, Free Speech Systems, are to be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the Sandy Hook families and Jones’s other creditors, according to the bankruptcy proceedings.
The exact date for the upcoming hearing had not been scheduled as of the afternoon of Nov. 15.
