On Tuesday night, a bankruptcy judge blocked the sale of InfoWars to The Onion. In his ruling, the judge reckoned that Alex Jones’ bizarre conspiracy theory broadcasting empire was worth more than The Onion said it would pay for it.
The ruling comes from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez and followed a two-day hearing. The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, won InfoWars at auction last month following a sealed bid. The world rejoiced, but Jones vowed to fight. He claimed his associates had put forth a rival bid that was ignored.
Lopez agreed. “I don’t think it’s enough money,” he said in his ruling. “I’m not going to approve the sale…I think you’ve got to go out and try to get every dollar. I think that the process fell down.”
Jones was forced to sell his assets following a series of court cases put forward by the families of Sandy Hook victims. After the shooting in 2012, Jones spread lies about the families on his show. They’ve been battling him in court ever since and have won multiple judgements against him that total $1.2 billion. The judgements sent Jones into bankruptcy and put InfoWars on the auction block.
Last month Global Tetrahedron put forward a $1.75 million cash bid and a nonclash pledge that put its total bid up to $7 million total. First United American Companies, a group that helps Jones run his dietary supplements business, put forward its own all cash bid of $3.5 million and claimed it should have won outright.
“Cash is cash,” Walter Cicack, the group’s lawyer, said in court.
Lopez stressed that the people overseeing the auction should get top dollar for Jones’ media empire. “I don’t even think the $3.5 million is enough,” he said.
Ben Collins, disinformation reporter turned CEO of Global Tetrahedron, said he was disappointed in the decision but vowed to keep fighting to buy InfoWars. “It is part of our larger mission to make a better, funnier internet, regardless of the outcome of the case,” he said in a post on X. “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.”
The Sandy Hook families part of the legal proceedings had supported The Onion’s bid. “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,” Chris Mattei, a lawyer representing the Sandy Hook families, told The New York Times.
“The Onion will continue to seek a resolution that helps the Sand Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured,” Collins said in his post on X.
What happens now is up in the air. In his ruling, Lopez put the burden on Christopher Murray, a court-appointed trustee charged with overseeing the auction. Lopez said that Murray had breached protocol during the initial auction and that he needed to come up with a new solution to the problem of how, and to whom, to sell InfoWars.
“It seemed doomed almost from the moment they decided to go to a sealed bid. Nobody knows what anybody else is bidding,” Lopez said on Tuesday.
“Finally, a judge followed the law…and ruled in InfoWars favor,” Jones said in a live InfoWars broadcast following the ruling.
English (US) ·