The Onion’s Purchase Of Alex Jones’ InfoWars On Hold

CHICAGO — While opponents of far-right conspiracy media figure Alex Jones cheered the news last week that Chicago-based satirical news site The Onion was acquiring his platform, InfoWars, in a bankruptcy auction, the ink isn’t dry on the deal quite yet.

On Monday, a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas ruled that the sale of InfoWars is on hold pending a new hearing within two weeks to review evidence and claims levied by Jones and his legal team that the sale was “rigged,” NPR reported. 

Jones was recently found liable for a cumulative $1.5 billion in damages between two lawsuits for defamation and emotional distress to families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. For years after the shooting, Jones repeatedly painted the grieving parents as crisis actors on his show and invited harassment and emotional distress from his masses of followers.

Jones filed for bankruptcy for himself and his company, Free Speech Systems, and has been preparing to sell off his assets. 

On Nov. 14, Global Tetrahedron, The Onion’s parent company, was declared the winner of an auction to liquidate InfoWars with a $1.75 million cash bid. (The Sandy Hook families pledged to forego the auction proceeds, to allow Jones’ other creditors to get paid, the AP reported.) The closed auction had only one other bidder besides The Onion: First United American Companies, which runs a Jones-affiliated website that sells nutritional supplements.

Lawyers for Jones now claim that bankruptcy trustee Christopher Murray’s refusal of First United American’s much higher bid of $3.5 million violated the judge’s rules for the auction, NPR reported.

Jones is alleging that the bidding process was subject to fraud and that Global Tetrahedron colluded with Jones’ creditors, which include several families of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, as well as the Democratic Party and others, to maliciously destroy Jones’ business by refusing First United American’s bid.

However, the auction process U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez approved in September did not require Murray to pick the highest bidder, and decisions could be made to reject bids that were “contrary to the best interests” of the creditors of the estate, the AP reported.

At Monday’s hearing, Lopez heard arguments from both sets of lawyers before deciding that the evidence required planning a new evidentiary hearing “where we put people on the stand.” 

No specific date was set for the hearing.

NBC News reported that Lopez said, “I want a fair and transparent process, and let’s see where that process goes. Everyone will have their day in court … Let the evidence prevail.”

Lopez cautioned the plaintiffs to ensure all assets remain where they were prior to auction. If not, a new evidentiary hearing would be held within 24 hours.

Any efforts by The Onion to advertise their new version of InfoWars are said to be on hold while the sale remains in limbo. 

“InfoWars belongs to the people … Mister Onion,” Jones said on his show last week as he prepared to shut down InfoWars. The site has since been put back up, and Jones is still broadcasting.

The Onion has said it plans to turn InfoWars into a parody site of conspiracy theorists like Jones. 

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