The Onion’s claims they own Alex Jones’ Infowars website are far from reality, The New York Times has reluctantly reported.
UPDATE: Watch Jones join Steve Bannon to break the latest:
. @RealAlexJones Gives Updates On What Really Happened With The Auction Of Infowars pic.twitter.com/TJhRAOCLLD
— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) November 19, 2024
In an article Tuesday titled, “The Onion’s Bid to Acquire Infowars Has Gotten Messy,” the Times recounted last week’s whirlwind Infowars auction saga where joint bidders appear to have colluded with Jones’ court-appointed trustee to edge out a pro-Jones buyer.
The Times reports anti-freedom liberals celebrated Jones’ apparent demise; however, their excitement was short-lived.
Via the NYT:
There was a merry triumphalism to the announcement last week that The Onion, a satirical outlet based in Chicago, won an auction to acquire the conspiracy site Infowars out of bankruptcy.
The deal seemed done: Infowars went offline; memes of an apoplectic Alex Jones, its founder, sped across social media; and Ben Collins, chief executive of The Onion’s parent company, pronounced the coup “hilarious.”
No one is laughing now.
That sale process has been drawn out by an unexpected twist in the bankruptcy proceedings, when a bidder affiliated with Mr. Jones raised an 11th-hour objection to the deal. Since then, a flurry of court filings have put a spotlight on the final act of the bankruptcy proceedings, which have proved to be just as chaotic as those that preceded them.
In a comment to the Times, Onion CEO Ben Collins attempted to claim the court’s hold-up was just due to “standard processes;” however, at Thursday’s emergency hearing last week an “angry” US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez, overseeing Jones’ bankruptcy, appeared “frustrated” with the auction’s lack of transparency – a disposition that doesn’t bode well for The Onion’s alleged purchase.
“No one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction,” Judge Lopez stated Thursday, going on to schedule an evidentiary hearing for next Monday.
The Times failed to mention Jones on Tuesday requested a restraining order and filed for a preliminary injunction against his court-appointed trustee, Onion parent company Global Tetrahedron LLC and Connecticut Sandy Hook family members accusing them of colluding to rig the auction and calling for their bid to be “disqualified” for attempting to defraud the bankruptcy court.
🚨BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Alex Jones Files An Emergency Restraining Order Against The DOJ Trustee & The Onion For The Fraudulent Sale of InfoWars
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) November 19, 2024
COURT FILING: https://t.co/Q6T18cCC9N
WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/trUqZLg5j3 pic.twitter.com/cdI6vdSlnY
Among his grievances, Jones listed several auction rules defendants violated, including the fact “joint bids” were not permitted, that “each person or entity bidding was to confirm it had engaged in no collusion with respect to the Auction,” and that “each bid was required to ‘clearly set forth the purchase price’ being offered.”
The last point was one mentioned by Judge Lopez at last week’s emergency hearing and reported on by The Times:
The Onion group did not release the terms of the sale, but in the hearing it emerged that it had offered less in cash than First United. It won by including a “credit bid,” a pledge by Sandy Hook families who had sued Mr. Jones in Connecticut to forgo for now collecting on a portion of the damages due them.
While Judge Lopez said he was not accusing the parties of doing anything improper, “I’m concerned about the process.” He scolded the trustee, saying the backup bidders “don’t even know the winning bid!”
RELATED – EXPOSED: Onion CEO LIED About Having ‘Highest Bid’ in Infowars Auction, Court Docs Show
The case could hinge on a point raised by The Times, the fact that “Infowars went offline” following the alleged sale, the terms of which had neither been approved nor authorized by Judge Lopez, and a measure that effectively overstepped the court’s authority.
“The Trustee interrupted a business operation that is very profitable,” Jones wrote in a filing Tuesday. “I am afraid he will do it again and request that this Court not allow the Trustee to make that judgment, but that the Trustee be required to get court approval before he makes any material business decision concerning me, FSS or Infowars.”
Jones on Tuesday also filed a lawsuit against his court-appointed trustee for $1 million in damages.
Democrats, using The Onion as their proxy, appear to have overlooked notifying the bankruptcy court about their secret bid proceedings, and in an overzealous rush to proclaim themselves winners of the fraudulent private sale may have undermined their own efforts, potentially costing themselves the auction and unexpectedly handing Jones another victory.
Infowars is not shut down! The people saying that are in a lot of trouble. https://t.co/Rv4qZf2Pxz
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) November 19, 2024