The judge denied The Onion’s request to purchase Alex Jones’ Infowars.
A US bankruptcy judge has denied the sale of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars website to the spoof news outlet The Onion.
Judge Christopher Lopez declared following a two-day hearing that the Infowars auction did not yield the highest bids.
But he dismissed Jones’s accusations of “collusion” at the sale.
The relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims. Who won a $1.5 billion (£1.18 billion) defamation lawsuit against Jones for spreading false rumors about the killing. Supported the effort, according to The Onion.
“A good-faith error” was committed by the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee who conducted the auction, according to Judge Lopez.
According to him, they ought to have promoted additional bidding between. The Onion and a business connected to Mr. Jones’ supplement-selling enterprises rather than hastily requesting final bids in the auction.
Judge Lopez remarked, “This should have been opened back up, and it should have been opened back up for everybody.”
Using a combination of opinion, conjecture, and plain fabrication. Jones, a fringe radio broadcaster in Austin, Texas in the 1990s, eventually amassed a following of millions.
The company’s online store, which sells vitamins and other goods, generates the majority of its revenue.
Broadcasts following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newtown. Connecticut, in December 2012 are the cause of the company’s and Jones’s financial troubles.
The attack claimed the lives of six school employees and twenty young students.
Following the deaths, Jones and his guests frequently questioned if the massacre truly happened. Speculating about whether the crimes were staged or executed by government operatives.
Jones once referred to the attack as “a big fraud” and stated in 2015: “Sandy Hook is a synthetic, fully false with actors, in my perspective, produced. I was aware that they had actors present, but I still believed that some actual children had been killed. The fact that they utilized actors so obviously just goes to show how brazen they are.”
Jones created a network of conspiracy theories that plagued the relatives of the Sandy Hook victims, often posting their personal information online and sending them images of their deceased children or gravestones.
Some went to “investigate” in Newtown, and a number of persons were taken into custody in relation to the victims’ harassment.
Later, Jones claimed his remarks were protected by US free speech laws and admitted that the killings were true.
However, because Jones and his company made false assertions, the victims’ relatives were able to obtain defamation judgments against them.
As the Sandy Hook case proceeded to trial, he filed for bankruptcy in 2022, and a judge ordered Jones’s personal assets to be liquidated in June 2024.
According to a court document, this includes a multimillion-dollar ranch, additional properties, vehicles, boats, and firearms, with a total estimated value of approximately $8.6 million.
