A bankruptcy judge on Monday postponed a hearing in conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ attempt to stop satirical news channel The Onion from buying Infowars, leaving the auction sale up in the air for at least a few more weeks.
Jones claims fraud and conspiracy marred the bankruptcy auction, which resulted in The Onion being declared the winning bidder for an affiliated company. A curator overseeing the auction denies the allegations and accuses Jones of launching a smear campaign because he didn’t like the outcome.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez was scheduled to hear an emergency motion to disqualify The Onion’s bid on Monday, but postponed it until December 9 or 17. That is also the time when the judge will hear arguments about the trustee’s request to approve the offer. sale of Infowars to The Onion. Lopez said it made sense to hold one hearing on both requests.
“I want a fair and transparent process and let’s just see where the process goes,” Lopez said.
Lopez could ultimately allow The Onion to move forward with the purchase, order a new auction or declare the other bidder as the winner. The question is whether Jones will be allowed to stay at the Infowars studio in Austin, Texas under a new owner who is friendly to him, or whether he will be kicked out by The Onion.
The other bidder, First United American Companies, operates a website that sells nutritional supplements in Jones’ name.
Jones continues to broadcast his show from the Infowars studio, but he has set up a new location, websites and social media accounts as a precaution. The trustee closed Infowars’ Austin studio and websites last week for about 24 hours after The Onion was announced as the winning bidder, but allowed them to resume operations the next day, prompting more complaints from Jones.
Jones filed for bankruptcy and liquidated his assets after being ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. He was ordered to pay damages for defamation and emotional distress in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas after repeatedly saying the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six teachers was a hoax staged by actors to increase gun control.
Proceeds from the liquidation will go to Jones’ creditors, including the Sandy Hook families who sued him.
Last year, Lopez ruled that $1.1 billion of the Sandy Hook judgments could not be discharged during the bankruptcy. On Monday, he rejected a request from the Sandy Hook families not to forgive the entire $1.5 billion, meaning the debt cannot be wiped out.
Also on Monday, lawyers for the social media platform Jones’ personal X account, with 3.3 million followers, was not part of the auction, but Lopez will decide whether it should be included in the liquidation.
Jones has praised X owner Elon Musk on his show and suggested Musk should buy Infowars. Musk has not publicly responded to that suggestion and was not among the bidders.
Jones was permanently banned from Twitter in 2018 for abusive behavior, but Musk reinstated Jones’ account on the platform which he has since renamed X in December last year.
Jones claims that The Onion’s bid was the result of fraud and conspiracy involving many of the Sandy Hook families, the humor site and the court-appointed receiver.
First United American Companies submitted a sealed offer of $3.5 million, while The Onion offered $1.75 million in cash. But The Onion’s bid also included a promise by the Sandy Hook families to forgo some or all of the auction proceeds because they would give other creditors a total of $100,000 more than they would receive in other bids.
The trustee, Christopher Murray, said The Onion’s proposal was better for creditors and called it the winning bid.
Jones and First United American Companies claimed the bid violated Lopez’s rules for the auction because it included multiple entities and lacked a valid dollar amount. Jones also alleged that Murray improperly canceled an expected round of live bidding and only selected from the two sealed bids that were submitted.
Jones called the auction “rigged” and a “fraud” on his show, which airs on the Infowars website, radio stations and Jones’ X account. He filed a countersuit in bankruptcy court last week against Murray, the parent company of The Onion, and the Sandy Hook families.
In a court filing on Sunday, Murray called the allegations a “desperate attempt” to delay the sale of Infowars to The Onion and accused Jones, his attorneys and attorneys from First United American Companies of a “vicious smear campaign that made patently false allegations.” He also alleged that Jones worked with First United American Companies to purchase Infowars.
Lopez’s September order on auction procedures made a live bidding round optional. And it gave Murray broad powers to carry out the sale, including the power to reject any offer, no matter how high, that was “contrary to the interests” of Jones, his company and their creditors.
The assets of Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, that were up for sale included the Austin studio, Infowars’ video archive, video production equipment, product trademarks, and Infowars’ websites and social media accounts. A new auction of remaining assets is scheduled for December 10.
Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion judgments citing the right to free speech, but has now acknowledged that the mass school shooting occurred.
Many of Jones’ personal assets, including real estate, guns and other assets, are also being sold as part of the bankruptcy.
Documents filed in court this year say Jones had about $9 million in personal assets, while Free Speech Systems had about $6 million in cash and more than $1 million in inventory.
