The Onion’s bid for Infowars is still in Court as Judge reviews auction

Bankruptcy Judge reviews The Onion's bid for Infowars platform amid allegations of fraud and collusion in auction process.

A bankruptcy Judge scrutinising The Onion’s bid for Alex Jones ’ Infowars platform was expected to hear a second day of testimony on Tuesday (December 10, 2024) after an auctioneer defended the satirical news outlet’s winning offer in November 2024.

It is not clear how quickly U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston will decide whether to approve the bid. The Onion, which wants to turn Infowars’ website and social media accounts into parodies, offered $1.75 million for Infowars’ assets in the auction.

Mr. Jones did not attend Monday’s (December 9, 2024) start of the key hearing and instead continued to broadcast from his studios in Austin.

Jeff Tanenbaum, president of ThreeSixty Asset Advisors, was grilled by lawyers for Mr. Jones and the company in a Houston courtroom on Monday (December 9, 2024) over how The Onion’s bid came to be valued at $7 million and why a live auction was not held. He defended both the value of the bid and its selection after the two sealed offers were opened.

Mr. Lopez could ultimately decide whether to void The Onion’s bid, name the Mr. Jones-affiliated company the winner or hold another auction, among other possibilities.

Mr. Jones and First United American Companies, which runs a website in Mr. Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements and submitted the other bid, are alleging fraud and collusion in the auction that concluded on Nov. 14, 2024. The trustee and The Onion deny the allegations, accusing Jones and the company of sour grapes. First United American Companies bid $3.5 million.

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