The Onion’s offer to buy right-wing provocateur Alex Jones’ Infowars platform, as part of a liquidation to pay off his debts to the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, is on hold until a bankruptcy judge can approve it.

The Onion’s offer to buy right-wing provocateur Alex Jones’ Infowars platform, as part of a liquidation to pay off his debts to the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, is on hold until a bankruptcy judge can approve it.

Houston bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Lopez at a hearing Monday rejected a request from Jones for an emergency temporary restraining order to stop a bankruptcy trustee or those from The Onion from taking over Infowars assets, saying it wasn’t necessary since he hasn’t entered an order allowing such a change.

Lopez said he’s ready to consider objections as early as next week from Jones, a losing bidder, or others who have concerns with the transparency of the auction or the structure of the winning bid. The decision will determine whether Jones can remain on air on the platform he’s been broadcasting on for roughly 25 years.

  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
    2·
    3 hours ago

    Here’s hoping, from the original case:

    A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston ordered new personnel to oversee the bankruptcy of Alex Jones’s Infowars late on Tuesday, citing an ongoing lack of transparency, including over Mr. Jones’s lavish personal spending.

    Judge Christopher Lopez dismissed Mr. Jones’s attorney and chief restructuring officer in the bankruptcy of Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, and expanded the duties of a Department of Justice-appointed trustee already monitoring the case. The judge authorized the trustee to hire additional legal and other help, specifying that any new hires must have “no connection to any of these cases,” he said, citing a need to investigate “insider relationships.”

    “There has to be greater transparency in this case,” Judge Lopez said during the hearing on Tuesday, pointing to concerns with spending and other disclosures on the part of the company, which is run by Mr. Jones. “Without transparency, people lose faith in the process,” he added, referring to the federal bankruptcy system.

    From: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/us/politics/alex-jones-bankruptcy-judge.html