(11 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 14 November 2024
1. Various of Onion newspaper
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicago – 14 November 2024
2. Various exteriors of office building housing The Onion and it’s owner, Global Tetrahedron
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Houston – 14 June 2024
3. Alex Jones leaving courthouse carrying box
4. Mid of Jones at crosswalk during a court break
5. Mid of Jones walking
6. Jones arriving at courthouse
STORYLINE:
A federal judge on Tuesday night rejected the auction sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet, criticizing the bidding process as flawed and the amount of money that families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting stood to receive.
The Onion had been named the winning bidder on November 14 over a company affiliated with Jones, whose conspiracy theory platform was put up for sale as part of his bankruptcy case stemming from the nearly $1.5 billion that courts have ordered him to pay over falsely calling one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history a hoax.
The decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston to not approve the sale means Jones can stay at his Infowars headquarters in Austin, Texas.
The Onion had planned to kick Jones out and relaunch Infowars in January as a parody.
“We are deeply disappointed in today’s decision, but The Onion will continue to seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured,” Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, posted on social media late Tuesday.
Lopez 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.
The Onion offered $1.75 million in cash and other incentives for Infowars’ assets in the auction.
First United American Companies, which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements, bid $3.5 million.
The bids were a fraction of the money that Jones has been ordered to pay in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas filed by relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
Lopez said the auction outcome “left a lot of money on the table” for families.
“You got to scratch and claw and get everything you can for them,” Lopez said.
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families who sued Jones in Connecticut, said they were disappointed in the judge’s ruling.
“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,” 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.”
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.
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 forgo $750,000 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.
Jones has since acknowledged that the Connecticut school shooting happened.
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