A federal bankruptcy judge is considering Alex Jones’s bid to prevent The Onion from buying his InfoWars media platform and turning it into a parody of itself.
On November 14, the satirical website announced it had purchased the Texas-based conspiracy theorist’s media platform in a bankruptcy auction that Jones claims was “rigged.” Soon after, Houston judge Christopher Lopez paused The Onion‘s winning bid and ordered a hearing to take Jones’s concerns into account.
“We’re all going to an evidentiary hearing and I’m going to figure out exactly what happened,” Lopez said earlier this month. “No one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction.”
The judge heard arguments regarding the sales dispute on Monday. It’s unclear when he will make a ruling on Jones’s request, but he later said he may hold another evidentiary hearing in December. The hearing does not have a date yet, according to NBC News.
Until then, the sale of InfoWars to The Onion will not be finalized. Moreover, Jones will continue operating under his media brand for the time being pending the judge’s decision.
Jones alleges the auction of his assets was marred by fraud and collusion when a court-appointed trustee approved The Onion‘s $1.75 million bid over First United American Companies’ $3.5 million bid, the Associated Press reported. The latter company is affiliated with Jones.
Even though First United’s bid was higher, trustee Christopher Murray favored The Onion‘s because the humor website made a lucrative deal with the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in Newtown, Conn. The families agreed to forgo some or all of the auction proceeds to give his other creditors $100,000 more than they would receive under other bids, according to the AP.
Lawyers for Jones and First United argue that the auction’s sealed-bid process was not transparent and violated the bankruptcy judge’s own rules for bidding. Murray chose to skip an expected round of public bidding and went with the offer made by The Onion. The trustee has denied any wrongdoing.
In 2022, Jones filed for bankruptcy shortly after he was ordered to pay $1.5 billion in damages to the Sandy Hook families as a result of losing multiple defamation lawsuits. The InfoWars host repeatedly made false claims about the 2012 school shooting, in which a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six teachers. Jones alleged the massacre was orchestrated to convince federal lawmakers to pass stricter gun-control legislation.
During his 2022 trial in Austin, Texas — where the InfoWars studio is located — Jones conceded that the massacre was “100 percent real.” He is appealing the $1.5 billion in verdicts over free-speech rights.
The bankruptcy auction was the latest form of accountability for Jones’s allegations. In June, Lopez ordered the liquidation of Jones’s personal assets so he could pay off the massive sum. The judge later set the auction date for mid-November.
InfoWars‘ parent company, Free Speech Systems, put up its assets for sale — including the Austin studio, Infowars’ video archive, video-production equipment, product trademarks, and Infowars’ websites and social-media accounts. Jones’s personal assets — such as his real estate, guns, and other personal items — were also up for sale this month.
Regarding the social-media accounts belonging to Jones and InfoWars, lawyers for Elon Musk’s X objected to any sale of those accounts in a court filing on Monday. They said the social-media platform has not given consent for the sale or transfer of the accounts to a new owner.
Jones’s personal X account was not included in the auction, though Lopez will decide whether it should be liquidated and sold off later.
Memes have been circulating on X, suggesting that Musk should buy both InfoWars and MSNBC and give Jones a primetime show on the news network. Musk recently responded to one such meme with two “fire” emojis. Jones replied to Musk’s post, saying, “I stand ready! Just put me in the game coach!”