Auctioneer defends The Onion's bid for Infowars as Alex Jones tries stopping sale

A bid by The Onion satirical news outlet to buy Alex Jones' conspiracy theory platform Infowars returned Monday to a Texas courtroom, where a judge heard arguments on whether a bankruptcy auction was properly run as Jones alleges collusion and fraud.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston is looking into the November auction and how a trustee chose The Onion over the only other bidder — a company affiliated with Jones that offered twice as much money as The Onion.

Lopez heard nearly six hours of testimony and arguments before adjourning Monday evening. The hearing was scheduled to resume Tuesday.

The sale of Infowars is part of Jones' personal bankruptcy case, which he filed in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly US$1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas filed by relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. Jones repeatedly called the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors and aimed at increasing gun control.

Most of the proceeds from the sale of Infowars, as well as many of Jones' personal assets, will go to the Sandy Hook families to help satisfy judgments issued by juries and judges in state courts in Connecticut and Texas. Some proceeds will go to Jones' other creditors.

The Onion, which wants to turn Infowars' website and social media accounts into parodies, offered US$1.75 million for Infowars' assets in the auction, while First United American Companies — which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements — bid US$3.5 million.

The Onion's bid also included a pledge by many of the Sandy Hook families to forgo some or all of the auction proceeds due to them to give other creditors a total of US$100,000 more than they would receive under other bids.

The trustee, Christopher Murray, chose The Onion, saying its proposal was better for creditors because they would receive more money.

Joshua Wolfshohl, an attorney for Murray, told the judge Monday that no wrongdoing occurred during the auction. He called the complaints by Jones and First United American Companies unfounded.

“The vast majority of their complaints are just fantastic, imagined conspiracy theories that have no basis in reality," he said.

Jones' lawyer, Ben Broocks, questioned Murray's rationale for choosing The Onion and alleged that a recent deposition of the trustee showed improprieties. He also questioned the validity of The Onion's bid, saying it was technically valued at US$7 million because of the incentive offered by the Sandy Hook families.

An auction company executive involved in the sale testified most of the afternoon.

In court filings, Jones and First United American Companies accused Murray, The Onion and the Sandy Hook families of illegally colluding on the bidding, committing fraud and violating the judge's rules for the auction.

Murray, The Onion and the families deny the allegations. In his own court filing, Murray called the allegations “a disappointed bidder’s improper attempt to influence an otherwise fair and open auction process.”

Up for sale at the auction were all the equipment and other assets in the Infowars studio in Austin, Texas, as well as its social media accounts, websites, video archive and product trademarks. Jones uses the studio to broadcast his far-right, conspiracy theory-filled shows on the Infowars website, his account on the social platform X and radio stations.

Jones has set up another studio, websites and social media accounts in case The Onion wins approval to buy Infowars and kicks him out. Jones has said he could continue using the Infowars platforms if the auction winner is friendly to him.

Jones is appealing the US$1.5 billion in judgments citing free speech rights but has acknowledged that the school shooting happened.

On Friday, a Connecticut appeals court reduced by US$150 million the original US$1.44 billion judgment against Jones in the lawsuit against him in that state, but upheld the rest of the award. Jones' lawyer said he will ask Connecticut's highest court to review the appellate ruling. Jones is also appealing a US$50 million judgment in a similar Texas defamation lawsuit.