A company linked to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is now offering more than $7 million to buy its Infowars platforms, more than double what it offered when it lost to satirical outlet The Onion in a bankruptcy auction. which was later overturned by a judgea lawyer handling the case said Monday.
First United American Companies, which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements, submitted the new offer despite no formal request to do so, said Joshua Wolfshohl, an attorney for the trustee overseeing Jones’ bankruptcy. to a bankruptcy court judge. during a brief hearing in Houston.
Wolfshohl said the administrator also expects a new offer soon from The Onion’s parent company, Chicago-based Global Tetrahedron.
The sale of Infowars is part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy casewhich he filed at the end of 2022 after being ordered to pay almost 1.5 billion dollars in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas brought by relatives of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. Jones has repeatedly called the 2012 shootings, which killed 20 children and six educators, a hoax staged by actors aimed at increasing gun control.
Most of the proceeds from the sale of Infowars, as well as many of Jones’ personal property sold, will go to the Sandy Hook families to help satisfy defamation judgments. Part of the proceeds will go to Jones’ other creditors.
The future of Infowars, based in Jones’ hometown of Austin, Texas, remains uncertain after the failed auction, and it remains unclear how the sale of its assets will play out. Wolfshohl said the administrator, Christopher Murray, will evaluate the new offers and decide what to do next.
“I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like,” Wolfshohl said. “But I think we would come back to court and say, ‘Judge, this is what we have.’ Let’s talk about a sales process, which Your Honor is comfortable with, possibly with an auction.’
Representatives for The Onion and First American United did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez canceled the auction and rejected Infowars’ sale to The Onion in December, saying the bidding process was flawed, lacked transparency and failed to raise enough money. money for creditors. He also said there was too much confusion between The Onion’s offering and its actual value. The Onion and First United American were the only two bidders.
Global Tetrahedron had submitted a $1.75 million cash offer with the intention of expelling Jones and relaunching Infowars in January. like a parody. The offer also included an agreement with many Sandy Hook families allowing them to forfeit $750,000 of their auction proceeds and give it to other creditors.
The original United American offered $3.5 million in cash and was expected to let Jones stay at Infowars. Despite The Onion’s lower cash offer, the trustee chose it as the winner of the auction, saying its offer would bring more money to creditors.
Jones and First United American had alleged fraud and collusion in the bidding process, but Lopez said there was no wrongdoing.
Since the auction, the Sandy Hook families who won more than $1.4 billion in the Connecticut lawsuit and those who got about $50 million in the Texas lawsuit have reached an agreement on how to share proceeds from the sale of Jones and Infowars assets. The two sides have been at odds over this issue for months.
Under the terms of the agreement, families in the Texas lawsuit would receive at least $4 million and families in the Connecticut lawsuit would receive at least $12 million. If the families in the Connecticut lawsuit get more than $12 million, the families in the Texas lawsuit will receive 25 percent of that additional amount. The deal must be approved by Lopez, the bankruptcy judge.
