A federal judge has rejected the sale of the conspiracy platform Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet.
The ruling comes after Infowars’ Alex Jones claimed a recent bankruptcy auction was fraught with illegal collusion.
The Onion was named the winning bidder on November 14 over a company affiliated with Jones, but Judge Christopher Lopez’s decision means Mr Jones can stay at Infowars in Austin, Texas.
At the end of a lengthy two-day hearing in a Texas courtroom on Tuesday night, Judge Lopez criticised the auction process as flawed and said the outcome “left a lot of money on the table” for families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
“You got to scratch and claw and get everything you can for them,” Judge Lopez said.
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 dollars (£1.17 billion) in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas filed by relatives of victims of the school shooting.
He repeatedly called the shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors and aimed at increasing gun control.
Parents and children of many of the victims testified in court that they were traumatised by his conspiracies and threats from his followers.
He has since acknowledged that the Connecticut school shooting happened.
The judge cited problems — but no wrongdoing — with the auction process. He said he did not want another auction and left it up to the trustee who oversaw the auction to determine the next steps.
Trustee Christopher Murray had defended The Onion’s bid during the hearing.
“Only two people showed up to bid and… one was just better than the other,” he testified, referring to The Onion. Asked how much better it was, he said “by a lot”.
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 forego 750,000 dollars (£587,000) of the auction proceeds due to them and give it to other creditors, providing the other creditors more money than they would receive under First United American’s bid.
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for Sandy Hook families, said they were disappointed the judge rejected The Onion’s bid after it was recommended by the trustee as being in the best interest of Mr Jones’ creditors.
“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,” Mr Mattei 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.”
Mr Jones, who did not attend the proceedings, quickly went back on the air to applaud the judge’s decision.
“We can celebrate the judge doing the right thing with the most ridiculous, fraudulent auction known in human history,” he said.
The trustee and The Onion deny the allegations from Jones and the company and accuse them of sour grapes.
