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A federal judge has rejected the sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to the satirical website, The Onion.
The late Tuesday ruling from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez comes after Jones claimed that a recent bankruptcy auction was fraught with illegal collusion.
The Onion was named the winning bidder last month over a company affiliated with Jones. Lopez’s decision means Jones can stay at Infowars in Austin, Texas. The Onion had planned to kick Jones out and relaunch Infowars in January as a parody.
Lopez criticized the auction process as flawed and said the outcome “left a lot of money on the table” for victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Split image of Infowars host Alex Jones, and a desktop view of the satirical website, The Onion. (Getty Images / Getty Images)
A trustee who oversaw the Infowars bankruptcy auction told the judge Tuesday that he picked The Onion’s bid for the conspiracy-filled platform because it was far better than the only other proposal he received, from a company affiliated with Alex Jones.
Trustee Christopher Murray testified during the second day of a hearing where a judge is scrutinizing Murray’s decision to name the satirical news outlet’s offer as the winning bid after a November auction that Jones alleges involved fraud and collusion.
The Onion offered $1.75 million in cash and other incentives for Infowars’ assets in the auction that concluded on Nov. 14. First United American Companies, which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements, bid $3.5 million.
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Although The Onion’s cash offer was lower than that of First United American, it included a pledge by many of the Sandy Hook families to forgo $750,000 of the auction proceeds due to them and give it to other creditors, providing the other creditors more money than they would receive under First United American’s bid.
Pedestrians walk by an Onion news rack in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)
During a broadcast from his Austin studios earlier Tuesday, Jones said: “I can’t imagine the judge would certify this fraud.”
“I mean it’s head-spinning the stuff they did and what they claimed,” he said.
The sale of Infowars is part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, filed in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas filed by relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
InfoWars founder Alex Jones speaks to the media outside Waterbury Superior Court during his trial on September 21, 2022 in Waterbury, Connecticut. (Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Jones repeatedly called the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors and aimed at increasing gun control. Parents and children of many of the victims testified in court that they were traumatized by Jones’ conspiracies and threats from his followers.
The Infowars host has since acknowledged that the Connecticut school shooting happened. But Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments citing his free speech rights.
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Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, said the company was “deeply disappointed” in the judge’s decision but “will continue to seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured.”
“We will also continue to seek a path towards purchasing InfoWars in the coming weeks. It is part of our larger mission to make a better, funnier internet, regardless of the outcome of this case,” Collins said in a statement provided to FOX Business. “We appreciate that the court repeatedly recognized The Onion acted in good faith, but are disappointed that everyone was sent back to the drawing board with no winner, and no clear path forward for any bidder. And for all of those as upset about this as we are, please know we will continue to seek moments of hope. We are undeterred in our mission to make a funnier world.”
FOX Business has reached out to Infowars for a response.
