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NBC News reported that US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez found that the bid submitted by The Onion's parent company, Global Tetrahedron, "wasn't the best bid and should not have been named the winner." Lopez handed down his ruling Tuesday, Dec. 10, at around 11:30 p.m. ET.
“I don’t think it’s enough money,” Lopez said in a late-night ruling from the bench in Houston, according to NBC. “I’m going to not approve the sale.”
Alex Jones owes $1.5 billion in damages to several families of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims after the 50-year-old Texan repeatedly claimed on his "InfoWars" show that the killing of 20 children and six adults at the Newtown, Connecticut, school in 2012 was a hoax.
The Washington Post reported that Judge Lopez felt there hadn't been enough transparency in the bidding process.
“I don’t think anyone acted in bad faith here. I think everyone was trying to buy an asset, put their best foot forward, and play by the rules,” Lopez said.
However, what happens next remains unclear. Lopez has given US Bankruptcy Trustee Christopher Murray 30 days to come up with a plan, according to NPR News.
Global Tetrahedron, which had the backing of the Sandy Hook families, offered to buy InfoWars for $1.75 million and turn it into a site satirizing people like Jones. The families offered to forgo some of the money Jones owed them to facilitate the purchase.
First United American Companies (FUAC), a company affiliated with Jones' supplement business, bid $3.5 million in the sealed auction, The Washington Post reported.
Whoever wins the bid assumes control of all InfoWars' property, archives, subscriber lists, and office equipment.
FUAC sued, saying its bid was the highest and should have been chosen as the winner.
Alex Jones held an “emergency” broadcast late Tuesday night to cheer Lopez's ruling.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen, we can celebrate the judge doing the right thing with the most ridiculous fraudulent auction known in human history," he said.
Chris Mattei, the attorney for the Connecticut families, said in a statement to "The Washington Post" that the fight is not over.
“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,” he said.
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