Info-Wars Sale To The Oinion Blocked By Bankruptcy Judge

A federal bankruptcy judge has rejected the sale of Alex Jones’s Infowars platform to satirical news website the Onion, ruling Tuesday that the November court-ordered auction of Jones’s website lacked transparency.

The decision capped a two-day hearing that stretched late into the night in U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez’s Houston courtroom.

“I don’t think anyone acted in bad faith here. I think everyone was trying to buy an asset and put their best foot forward and play by the rules,” Lopez said as he delivered his decision. The judge took issue with the lack of transparency from the sealed bidding process selected by the court-appointed trustee Christopher Murray, who was overseeing the sale of Jones’s assets. The judge added that he was troubled that the process, however well intended, “did maximize value in any way, based on the record before me.”

“I don’t think it was enough money,” Lopez said of the winning bid, adding he did not think the backup bid was high enough, either.

Lopez said he does not want another complex auction, but deferred to Murray on how to proceed with fetching top dollar for Jones’ assets.

Global Tetrahedron, the Onion’s parent company, was named the winning bidder of a Nov. 13 auction to acquire Infowars. The platform was among the assets Jones was forced to sell to help pay the roughly $1.5 billion in damages he owes to families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting who sued for defamation after Jones claimed the massacre was a “hoax.”

Minutes after the verdict, Jones appeared live on X, telling more than 440,000 viewers: “A judge followed the law.”