Summary

A company tied to Alex Jones, First United American Companies, is challenging The Onion’s winning bid to acquire Infowars in bankruptcy court, alleging fraud and collusion with the Sandy Hook families and the auction trustee.

The Onion’s $1.75M bid included incentives benefiting other creditors, which the trustee deemed superior to the $3.5M cash bid from the Jones-affiliated company.

The trustee rejected the allegations as baseless, describing the motion as an attempt to interfere with the auction process, while The Onion intends to transform Infowars into a parody site.

A hearing has been ordered to review the auction process.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Alex Jones used Infowars to disseminate lies about the parents of murdered children. Those lies were so egregious that a court found Alex Jones owed those victims a lot of money. Alex Jones claims he cannot afford to pay his debts, so he has declared bankruptcy. His plan is to sell Infowars, the vehicle of his disinformation, and use the proceeds to pay a fraction of his debts.

    An affiliated company wants to buy Infowars so that they can hire Alex Jones to continue to spread disinformation. They are trying to dodge payments and minimize the amount owed while retaining possession of the valuable assets.

    To be clear, Infowars does not belong to Alex Jones anymore. He has no say in how his assets are liquidated or distributed. Buying back your liquidated assets through an intermediary is a type of fraud that has existed as long as bankruptcy.

  • orclev@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    while The Onion intends to transform Infowars into a parody site.

    It was always a joke, now it will just be a funny one.

    • TheFogan@programming.dev
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      1 month ago

      Most importantly it will be a joke that attempts to deliver itself in a responsible way so that minimizes the chance of people who don’t understand the joke, will inflict great harm on people.

  • BetaDoggo_@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    With the families’ offer, other Jones creditors would get a total of $100,000 more than they would get if First United American Companies bought Infowars, according to The Onion’s bidding document.

    So the Onion’s bid was higher over all for the other creditors and Jones is mad that they can’t pay his way out of this. The trustee is supposed to do what’s in the best interest of the creditors, which includes the families.

    Also, having your friend buy your assets back for you out of bankruptcy seems like fraud, but I don’t know the specific laws.

  • EleventhHour@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Ok, the argument here is that The Onion turning InfoWars into a parody site “would not provide value”…

    Ok, first of all, when ever - in the history of the universe- did Alex Jones or anyone he’d consider an ally give even a quantum fuck about what “value” the families of the victims receive after half a decade of legal fights to deny this?

    Second, who the fuck is Melon Tusk to complain and insert himself into these (almost completed) proceedings? So rich asshole that Jones has convinced to try to save him? Why the fuck should they give him any kind of legal standing?

    Lastly, by turning InfoWars, el al into whatever The Onion plans can’t be categorically dismissed as having “no” or “lesser” value without the ability to peer through time.

    So, unless the judge has dogturds for brains and/or is a Trumpfuck, this sale will proceed, uninpeded by Felon Husk.