BREAKING: Federal Judge BLOCKS The Onion from Buying Infowars

In a major win for Alex Jones, a federal judge has just blocked the sale of Infowars to satirical news website The Onion.

Judge Christopher Lopez cited “great lack of clarity” in the auction process as his reasoning for the ruling.

Originally, The Onion had collaborated with Sandy Hook families to bid in the auction sale of Infowars, and were awarded the win despite not having the highest bid.

Check it out:

🚨 #BREAKING: A federal judge has BLOCKED The Onion’s purchase of Alex Jones’ Infowars, citing “great lack of clarity” in the auction process, per NYT.@RealAlexJones is ONCE AGAIN exposing the blatant corruption in our court systems! 🔥

KEEP FIGHTING ALEX! We’ve got your back… pic.twitter.com/myw8Y73hGf

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 11, 2024

🚨BREAKING NEWS: ALEX JONES TOOK A HUGE BITE OUT OF THE ONION TODAY AS JUDGE RULES IN INFOWARS FAVOR!!! THE ONION CRIES AS ALEX JONES FLEXES AND THE LAWSUITS RAIN DOWN!!!@AJNlive @infowars @RealAlexJones #maga @TheOnion #alexjoneswins #alexjonesshow pic.twitter.com/Rti5WIFIl5

— America First News Network (@TheRealGoodCit1) December 11, 2024

Here’s The Onion‘s response:

A statement from The Onion about InfoWars. pic.twitter.com/dtiQHSZ9vj

— follow @bencollins on bluesky (@oneunderscore__) December 11, 2024

The New York Times broke the news:

A judge late Tuesday night said he would not approve the sale of Infowars, the website founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, to the Chicago-based satirical publication The Onion, prolonging a messy tug of war between two high-profile suitors.

The ruling, by Judge Christopher Lopez in federal bankruptcy court in Houston, puts The Onion’s plan to take possession of the Infowars site and its associated assets in limbo. The Onion’s bid was backed by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones.

A spokesman for The Onion did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Mr. Jones did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Though the case involved colorful litigants dueling for a controversial prize, it ultimately hinged on austere matters of protocol. The arguments over two days of court hearings boiled down to whether the court-appointed trustee adhered to the law when he solicited bids and ultimately picked Global Tetrahedron, The Onion’s parent company, as the winner.

The total value of The Onion’s bid was $7 million, including $1.75 million in cash put up by Global Tetrahedron, with the rest coming from the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, who essentially opted to put a portion of their potential earnings from a defamation judgment against Mr. Jones toward The Onion’s bid.

The hearing began Monday with opening arguments from lawyers representing Global Tetrahedron, and First United American Companies, a bidder affiliated with Mr. Jones. Much of the back-and-forth was focused on whether the court should allow families of the Sandy Hook victims to apply a portion of their judgment against Mr. Jones to The Onion’s bid.

Not including the backing of the Sandy Hook families, First United American Companies had a higher bid, offering $3.5 million in cash. But Jeff Tanenbaum, an expert who advised the court-appointee trustee on the sale, said that the combined bid with the Sandy Hook families was superior.

Business Insider added:

A Texas bankruptcy judge ruled that The Onion’s bid for Alex Jones’s Infowars cannot go forward.

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Last month, after the purchase was announced, Judge Christopher Lopez of the Southern District of Texas’ US Bankruptcy Court voiced discomfort about the auction for the site, including the fact that offers weren’t shared between rival bidders.

“Nobody should feel comfortable with the results of the auction,” Lopez said at the time, after designated backup bidder First American United Companies — a company affiliated with Jones’s supplement business — requested a hearing.

After the sale was put on hold, Lopez heard testimony at a hearing Monday. He ruled on Tuesday night that while all parties acted in good faith, the closed auction for Infowars did not bring the highest possible bids for the website.

“I don’t really care who wins,” Lopez said.

A lower purchase price for Infowars means less money to Jones’ creditors, including families from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, who won a significant defamation lawsuit against him.

The process “simply did not maximize value in any way, based upon the record before me,” Lopez said during his judgment on Tuesday.

He later added, “It’s clear the trustee left a lot of money on the table, or the potential for a lot of money on the table.”

The Onion initially prevailed at auction despite the fact that its cash bid was less than First American United Companies’ bid $3.5 million for Infowars.

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