In order to decide whether to allow the sale of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media firm to the satirical magazine The Onion, a federal court said Monday that he could schedule an evidentiary hearing the next month.
Insolvency The sale, which follows an auction on November 13, is still pending until such a hearing, when interested parties can present their case and he can determine which of Jones’ assets, if any, can be sold, according to Houston Judge Christopher Lopez. They did not immediately pick a date.
Additionally, he noted that “whatever was status quo pre-auction remains status quo” and declined to decide on Jones’ request for a temporary restraining order to invalidate the Onion’s bid right away. This effectively permits Jones to continue broadcasting from his primary platform, Infowars, for the time being.
“Firing folks a week before Thanksgiving is not what we do, but it sounds like that’s not what occurred,” Lopez stated. “Folks are continuing to work.”
A limited liability corporation connected to Jones’ nutritional supplement firm, First United American Companies, was another bidder and had contested the auction’s outcome after claiming to have paid twice as much as the Onion.
The ownership of Infowars’ website and other intellectual property is up for sale, with the majority of the earnings going toward compensating the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims for defamation judgments they were given.
In 2022, Jones was sued by the families after he termed the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which killed 20 children and six staff members, a “hoax” on his Infowars show. Following the approximately $1.5 billion in court awards, he declared bankruptcy in his native Texas.
Following the announcement of the winning offer by bankruptcy trustee Christopher Murray, Jones’ firm, Free Speech Systems, was scheduled to be sold to the Onion, which has frequently made fun of him in its fake news coverage.
However, First United American Companies swiftly challenged the outcome, claiming in an urgent appeal to stop the sale that it had made a cash offer of $3.5 million, while the Onion had made a $1.75 million offer.
The trustee had the option to reject a bid that was “contrary to the best interests” of the estate creditors, and the Lopez-approved auction procedure did not force Murray to automatically choose the bidder who offered the largest sum.
According to Lopez on Monday, Murray’s business judgment on the auction’s conduct will be the main topic of an evidentiary hearing. He stated that he may choose to hold more hearings, order another auction, or allow the sale.
“I want a fair and transparent process, and let’s see where that process goes,” Lopez stated, before adding, “Everyone will have their day in court.”
Murray stated at a previous court hearing after the auction that “the creditors ended up significantly better off” as a result of the Onion’s bid.
Additionally, he stated in a document that most Sandy Hook families were prepared to relinquish their portion of the sale profits in favor of receiving a portion of future earnings from a redesigned Infowars, which would enable the other creditors to obtain additional funds.
According to The Onion, the entire bid value is $7 million. However, since any future income are uncertain, First American United Companies’ attorney Walter Cicack said in its complaint that the deal amounted to a “Monopoly” money offer.
Regarding the Onion’s support from Sandy Hook relatives, he stated, “This was not simply collaboration; this was outright collusive bid rigging.”
In a prior statement, Chris Mattei, a lawyer for some of the victims’ families, said that the Onion had performed “a public service” by leading the acquisition and that it “will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm.”
In a declaration on Sunday, the Onion’s attorneys said that since the announcement of their winning offer, the business has been “harassed and threatened by the Debtor and members of his audience.
” Writing that a combined bid “does not amount to collusion” and refuting the notion that there was a lack of openness because the auction employed a sealed bid procedure, they suggested that the transaction should go forward.
“Sealed bids maintain the competitive tension between bidders and force bidders to offer up their best terms irrespective of where other bids sit,” the attorneys wrote.
They further stated, “Far from maintaining this process in secrecy, once the Trustee selected the Successful Bidder, the Trustee publicly disclosed all information about the Qualified Bids, including by disclosing copies of the initial and final bids submitted by each Qualified Bidder.”
While “the judge had some questions about process and assets,” Onion CEO Ben Collins, who formerly covered conspiracy theories and misinformation for NBC News, had stated on social media that the company’s “bid with the families is clearly the best.”
Collins said that Infowars will be relaunched by the Onion as “the dumbest website on the internet.” The new network would feature well-known online funny writers and content makers, an individual with knowledge of the deal told NBC News.
The Onion announced the transaction in a press release that was narrated by a satirical CEO of Global Tetrahedron, the publication’s parent business situated in Chicago.
Following the announcement of the sale, Infowars was momentarily taken down before reopening under Jones, who claimed the website had been “hijacked.”
After Musk’s X Corp. filed a notice of presence in the case, Jones, who made a little media empire spreading false information and conspiracy theories, said that Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump are looking into the bankruptcy auction in his favor.
Since Jones utilizes X to broadcast his program and the issue includes the possible transfer of Jones’ X handle in the transaction, X Corp. is assumed to be an interested party.
Jones’ attorneys claimed that First United American Companies ought to be the winning bidder and submitted a request for a temporary restraining order last week to nullify the Onion’s proposal. Despite calling the bidding process “fraudulent,” Jones assured his viewers that he would not be silenced no matter what happened with Infowars.
