The sale of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media company to the satirical journal The Onion was contested by a pro-Jones bidder who paid twice as much money, and a federal judge is scheduled to evaluate the transaction on Monday.
Jones’ flagship platform, Infowars, is up for auction this month, with the majority of the earnings going toward compensating the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims for defamation judgments they were given.
After Jones frequently referred to the murder in Newtown, Connecticut, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six staff members, as a “hoax” on his Infowars program, the families filed lawsuits against him in 2022. Following the approximately $1.5 billion in court awards, he filed for bankruptcy in his native state of Texas.
Following the announcement of the winning bid by bankruptcy trustee Christopher Murray, Jones’ company, Free Speech Systems, was scheduled to be sold to the Onion, which has frequently made fun of him in its fake news coverage.
In an emergency filing to stop the sale, First United American Companies, the sole other bidder and a limited liability company connected to Jones’ dietary supplement company, swiftly disputed the outcome, claiming that its offer was $3.5 million in cash as opposed to the Onion’s $1.75 million.
The trustee had the option to reject an offer that was “contrary to the best interests” of the estate creditors, and Murray was not required to automatically choose the bidder who submitted the greatest sum under the auction procedure authorized by Houston Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez.
Murray stated at a post-auction court hearing 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 proceeds 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 claimed in its filing that the deal amounts to a “Monopoly” money bid.
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, claimed 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 bid, the business has been “harassed and threatened by the Debtor and members of his audience.” Writing that a joint bid “does not amount to collusion” and refuting the notion that there was a lack of openness because the auction used a sealed bid process, they argued that the sale 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 previously covered conspiracy theories and misinformation for NBC News, stated on social media that the company’s “bid with the families is clearly the best.”
Collins added that Infowars will be relaunched by the Onion as “the dumbest website on the internet.” The new network will feature well-known online funny writers and content developers, an insider told NBC News.
The Onion announced the transaction in a news release that was written in the satirical voice of the CEO of Global Tetrahedron, the publication’s parent business based in Chicago.
Following the announcement of the sale, Infowars was momentarily shut down before reopening under Jones, who claimed the website had been “hijacked.”
Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump are allegedly looking into the bankruptcy auction in his favor after Musk’s X Corp. filed a notice of appearance in the case, according to Jones, who established a small media empire on spreading false information and conspiracy theories. Since Jones utilizes X to broadcast his show and the issue involves the possible transfer of Jones’ X handle in the sale, X Corp. is assumed to be an interested party.
Jones’ attorneys said that First United American Companies ought to be the winning bidder and submitted a request for a temporary restraining order last week to invalidate 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.
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