A federal bankruptcy judge rejected The Onion‘s bid to purchase Alex Jones’s InfoWars media platform, ruling late on Tuesday in favor of the Texas-based conspiracy theorist who claimed the auction process was “rigged” against him.
The parent company of the satirical website, Global Tetrahedron, announced last month that it had bought InfoWars in a bankruptcy auction as a “hilarious joke.” But before the purchase could be approved, Houston judge Christopher Lopez ordered court hearings to review the bidding process that had been challenged by Jones.
At the end of a two-day evidentiary hearing, Lopez found that there was a lack of transparency in the bidding process. “I’m going to not approve the sale to the purchaser. I think there’s a great lack of clarity here,” Lopez said on Tuesday night.
He also said there was too much confusion surrounding The Onion‘s bid, which amounted to $1.75 million in cash but included a deal in which the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting would have forwent some of the proceeds from the sale, which would accrue instead to Jones’s other bankruptcy creditors. Christopher Murray, the trustee overseeing the auction, valued this bid at $7 million.
The only other bid for assets belonging to Jones and InfoWars‘ parent company, Free Speech Systems, was made by First United American Companies. The Jones-affiliated organization offered $3.5 million in cash with no second component.
The judge said the two bids were too low and concluded that there needed to be more of an effort from both parties to raise as much money as possible for a possible second auction.
Lawyers for Jones and First United argued 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 defended the auction and denied any wrongdoing.
“I’ve conducted an open process. I haven’t excluded anyone from participating,” Murray said in testimony before the Houston bankruptcy court. He added that there was “no bias” when asked by a lawyer if he favored one party over the other.
In 2022, shortly after having been ordered to pay $1.5 billion in damages to the Sandy Hook families as a result of multiple defamation lawsuits, Jones filed for bankruptcy. The families have not received any money since winning the trials.
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 that the massacre was orchestrated to convince federal lawmakers to pass stricter gun control legislation. These claims caused emotional distress for the families involved.
During his 2022 trial in Austin, Texas — where the InfoWars studio is located — Jones conceded that the massacre was “100 percent real.”
Next steps in the case remain uncertain. The judge directed Murray to formulate a plan within 30 days of Tuesday’s hearing to proceed in the sale of Jones’s and InfoWars‘ assets.
The Onion‘s halted purchase means that Jones can continue operating his media business for the foreseeable future. The 50-year-old radio host celebrated the judge’s decision, saying Lopez did the “right thing” and “followed the law.”
Meanwhile, The Onion CEO Ben Collins responded with disappointment but said the satire company “will continue to seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured.”
The families are also disappointed, especially as this Saturday marks the twelfth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. The families are attending a vigil in remembrance of their deceased relatives on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.
Christopher Mattei, who represented the families in one of the lawsuits, said he expects to see justice for the claims that Jones had peddled for a decade.
“These families, who have already persevered through countless delays and roadblocks, remain resilient and determined as ever to hold Alex Jones and his corrupt businesses accountable for the harm he has caused,” Mattei said in a statement obtained by National Review. “This decision doesn’t change the fact that, soon, Alex Jones will begin to pay his debt to these families and he will continue doing so for as long as it takes.”
Jones has been appealing the nearly $1.5 billion in damages incurred. While upholding the $965 million verdict from 2022, a Connecticut appeals court reduced the judgment by $150 million last week.