The tug of war over ownership of Alex Jones’ Infowars has hit another snag after a federal judge rejected satire site The Onion’s bid to acquire the news site on Tuesday.
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Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez blocked The Onion’s purchase due to flaws in the auction process that failed to maximize returns for creditors, particularly the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting.
The judge ruled not only against The Onion’s $7 million bid but also the $3.5 million cash-only offer from First United American Companies, which is affiliated with Jones’ dietary supplements business. “I’m not going to approve the sale to the purchaser. I think there’s a great lack of clarity here,” Lopez said.
The judge argued that court-appointed trustee Christopher Murray, the individual who was in charge of managing the auction, “left a lot of money on the table.”
While Lopez said he had no problem with the makeup of The Onion’s bid and that everyone acted in “good faith,” he believed the trustee “left a lot of money on the table, or potential for a lot of money on the table, potential for a lot of negotiation on the table” because of the auction process and because other bidders did not know about the competing bids. Lopez said the trustee should “scratch and claw” for every last dollar.
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Lopez further explained that while Murray acted in good faith in his running of the auction, the proceedings were not transparent and that he should have given First United American Companies another chance to bid on Infowars.
Although The Onion’s cash offer was lower than that of First United American, it also included a pledge by many of the Sandy Hook families to forgo $750,000 of the auction proceeds due to them and give it to other creditors.
The families of the Sandy Hook victims were let down in this turn of events but reaffirmed their commitment to holding Jones accountable. The sale of Infowars is a result of the families’ lawsuit against Jones for falsely claiming the school shooting that killed their children was a staged event.
Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Connecticut families, said they were also disappointed.
“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,” he said in a statement.
“This decision doesn’t change the fact that, soon, Alex Jones will begin to pay his debt to these families and he will continue doing so for as long as it takes,” Mattei said.
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The judge ordered Murray to go back to the drawing board to determine who the new owner of Infowars will be. He said he does not believe it “makes sense” to hold another auction for the company.
Jones celebrated the decision, claiming the auction process was fraudulent. During a Tuesday broadcast, he celebrated “the judge doing the right thing with the most ridiculous fraudulent auction known in human history.”
The CEO of The Onion, Ben Collins, however, released a statement in which he said they were “deeply disappointed” in the ruling but would “continue to seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured.”
