A Texas judge pressed the pause button on The Onion’s winning bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars network over questions about the bidding process and what the provocateur calls a ‘rigged, fake auction.’
The satirical news publication said the bid was sanctioned by the families of Sandy Hook Elementary victims who won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Jones in 2022.
But Judge Christopher M. Lopez announced during a status conference in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas that the meeting would be held to discuss whether the people running the auction ran ‘a fair and full process.’
‘I personally don’t care who wins the auction, I care about process and transparency,’ the judge said, adding that ‘nobody should feel comfortable’ about what happened. No date has been set for the hearing.
Jones has raged against that very process since the winning bid on behalf of the satirical news site was announced Thursday.
In two videos posted later that evening, a furious Jones claimed that the sale is not yet official.
‘[My lawyers] had a total consensus: they’ve never seen anything like it. This was a private, secret sale… basically illegal, this is bankruptcy crime on