A federal judge threw out the bankruptcy sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars business to Sandy Hook families and a satirical news site, saying there was not enough transparency, clarity or money in the auction process.
“You still can’t tell me what the (winning) bid is — I’ve never seen that,” an exasperated-sounding Judge Christopher Lopez said late Tuesday night after a marathon day of testimony about the contested sale of Infowars last month. “I think the process fell down. I don’t think the parties did anything wrong. There’s just a lot of evidence there was not even an agreement on what the deal was.”
In denying the winning bid by the Onion to put up $1.75 million and a complicated non-cash contribution by certain Sandy Hook families who won a record defamation judgment against Jones in 2022, the judge also refused to consider the runner-up bid of $3.5 million by a company affiliated with Jones called First United American Companies.
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“I am going to not approve the sale to the (the Sandy Hook families and the Onion). I think there is a great lack of clarity, and I don’t think it’s enough money,” Lopez said from his Houston courtroom after nine hours of testimony. “And I don’t think First United is enough money either so my answer to that is 'no,' too.”
The Sandy Hook families in question expressed disappointment through their lead attorney.
"[W]e are disappointed the bankruptcy court rejected a purchase of Infowars that the court-appointed trustee recommended as being in the best interest of the creditors," Christopher Mattei said in a statement issued at midnight. "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. 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.”
Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, said the news site was "deeply disappointed."
"[F]or all of those as upset about this as we are, please know we will continue to seek moments of hope," Collins posted on social media. "We are undeterred in our mission to make a funnier world."
Meanwhile Jones was in celebration mode in a late night Infowars broadcast.
"I love you guys," Jones said to his listeners. "I appreciate you guys."
So what’s next for an Infowars bankruptcy case that is now 2 ½ years old and Jones’ personal bankruptcy case which is two years old?
That’s up to the federal trustee who Lopez put in charge of liquidating Jones’ estate, and who spent all day Tuesday trying to defend November’s bankruptcy sale of Infowars that the judge said was “doomed” from the start.
The short version of the judge’s orders, which came at the end of a 30-minute verbal decision Tuesday night, is that U.S. Trustee Christopher Murray has 30 days to come back to the judge with a new plan to dispose of Jones’ Infowars assets. The judge ruled out another auction.
The judge stopped short of condemning Murray, saying Murray was guilty of “good faith errors.”
“There wasn’t a level playing field for all bidders … (although) the process did give Mr. Murray flexibility,” Lopez said. I don’t like second-guessing trustees, but there’s a lot of evidence there was not even an agreement on what the deal was.”
In an earlier development on Tuesday, objections by Elon Musk’s social media platform X to the Infowars sale were resolved, according Murray during his testimony.
“On the X platform, there are three accounts owned by (Infowars’ parent company) that have been excluded from the sale,” Murray said during a second day of testimony in Texas about the disputed sale of Infowars. “That resolves X’s limited objection to the sale.”
Caroline Reckler, an attorney representing X Corp. at the hearing, confirmed on Monday that the media platform’s objection had been resolved.
The two-day hearing was called to determine the validity of the bankruptcy sale in November of Jones' conspiracy-themed broadcast and merchandizing platform. The hearing took on a trial-like atmosphere even though the event was billed by Lopez as a confirmation hearing.
The same judge is overseeing a larger selloff of Jones’ professional and personal estates to pay a fraction of the hundreds of millions Jones owes certain Sandy Hook families following defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas.
Jones' attorneys and lawyers for a runner-up bidder protested that the Infowars sale was “a complex, highly objectional, unusually non-transparent, process.” Murray testified on Tuesday that the sale was fair and transparent.
Murray’s attorney agreed in opening statements on Monday.
“The sale process was extremely successful; the only two objections are from (Jones) and an angry losing bidder,” said Joshua Wolfshohl. “They seek to supplant the trustee’s judgment with their own erroneous judgment.”
Jones, who for years had claimed the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax, was ordered to pay the families and an FBI agent $1.5 billion for defamation in separate cases in Texas and Connecticut in 2022. Last week, a Connecticut appeals court threw out $150 million of the judgment in Connecticut, which the jury had imposed on Jones for violating the Connecticut Fair Trade Practices Act. The court affirmed the remainder of the $1.4 billion judgement, which Jones has said he plans to appeal up to the state Supreme Court.
Jones also owes parents of a slain Sandy Hook boy $49 million from a defamation trial in Texas in 2022. That verdict is being appealed.
Last month, The Onion and its parent company, Global Tetrahedron LLC, announced that it had purchased Jones' Infowars website. The satirical site had planned to turn Infowars essentially into a parody of itself.
Previous reporting by Lisa Backus contributed to this report.