A bankruptcy judge is set to hear arguments Monday in conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ’ effort to stop the satirical news outlet The Onion from buying Infowars and turning it into a parody.
Jones alleges fraud and collusion marred the bankruptcy auction in which The Onion was named the winning bidder on Nov. 14 over a company affiliated with him.
It’s not clear how soon U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston will issue a ruling. He could allow The Onion to move forward with the sale, order a new auction or name the other bidder as the winner. At stake is whether Jones gets to stay at Infowars’ studio in Austin, Texas, under a new owner friendly to him, or whether he gets kicked out by The Onion.
Not according to Legal Eagle. (thanks to justOnePersistentKbinPlease)
The court gave the trustee wide latitude in deciding how the auction ran, what the rules were and who would be chosen to ‘win’.
AND on top of that. Alex Jonse’s own shell company was outbid by the onion. So the onion’s offering was a fair value. Because the onion was willing to pay more than Jones for Jones’s own company.
That’s not quite accurate.
The onion’s bid was technically lower overall, but they made an agreement with some of the victims of Jones’ harassment that would make them better off overall.
Essentially one group is legally owed 97% of the proceeds of the sale while everyone else gets what’s left. The agreement was that instead of a 97:3 split, the smaller group gets a bigger payout and the larger group gets a cut of future ad revenue.
Everybody wins in this arrangement, except Alex Jones. So everyone wins.