US judge rejects The Onion’s purchase of Alex Jones’s Infowars

Onion’s CEO expresses disappointment in judge’s decision, but satirical website remains interested in purchasing Infowars.

A federal judge in the United States has rejected satirical website The Onion’s purchase of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s Infowars, ruling that a bankruptcy auction did not result in the best possible bids.

In a decision late on Tuesday, US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez rejected Jones’s claims that the auction was plagued by “collusion”.

But Lopez said the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee who ran the auction made “a good-faith error” by quickly asking for final offers for Infowars instead of encouraging more back-and-forth bidding between The Onion and a company affiliated with Jones, which was the runner-up.

“This should have been opened back up, and it should have been opened back up for everybody,” the judge said at the end of a two-day hearing in Houston, Texas.

“It’s clear the trustee left the potential for a lot of money on the table.”