Alex Jones-affiliated company challenges the Onion’s Infowars purchase

NEW YORK — A losing bidder connected to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones challenged on Monday the Onion’s purchase of Jones’ Infowars website, saying the parody news site won a rigged bankruptcy auction and offered half as much cash as its bid.

First American United Companies, which is affiliated with Jones’ dietary supplements businesses, asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston to disqualify the bid by the Onion and name its own $3.5-million bid as the winner.

Jones was forced to auction his assets, including Infowars, in bankruptcy, after courts ordered him to pay $1.5 billion for defaming the families of 20 students and six staff members killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, by making false claims that the shooting was staged.

First American United Companies said in a court filing that a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee mishandled the auction by giving the Onion credit for backing by the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, whose lawsuits drove Jones into bankruptcy in 2022.

“Its effect is to depress and lower the amount the Onion would need to bid in cash to ensure that it was the winning bid,” First American United Companies said in its objection. “This was not simply collaboration, this was outright collusive bid rigging.”

The Onion’s winning bid for Infowars included $1.75 million in cash, according to the objection.

The Onion’s bid was valued at $7 million, in large part because a majority of the Sandy Hook families agreed to accept a percentage of future revenues from the new Infowars instead of taking an up-front payment from the sale, according to Murray.

The Onion did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for some of the Sandy Hook families declined to comment.