The Onion, the satirical information firm that repeatedly spoofed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has received the chapter public sale for management over his media empire — most notably InfoWars, the far-right, conspiracy-minded web site that served as Jones’ major on-line platform.
Jones introduced the sale on X Thursday morning.
“I simply bought phrase quarter-hour in the past that my attorneys and people met with the U.S. trustee over our chapter this morning and so they stated they’re shutting us down even with out a courtroom order this morning,” Jones stated.
“The Connecticut democrats with The Onion newspaper purchased us,” he added.
The Onion plans to shutter Jones’ InfoWars and rebuild the web site that includes well-known web humor writers and content material creators, in response to an individual with information of the sale.
Jones, one of many most-high profile and financially profitable various media personalities, constructed a small empire off a radio show-turned-internet video operation centered across the Infowars model that targeted on false and sometimes weird claims about grand conspiracies and authorities wrongdoing.
Details of Wednesday’s public sale, together with how a lot was supplied for Free Speech Systems, the mum or dad firm of Infowars, and associated property, weren’t instantly recognized. Funds generated from the sale are supposed to fulfill Jones’ property collectors, comprised largely of victims’ households of the 2012 Sandy Hook taking pictures to whom he should pay damages in defamation verdicts.
Sandy Hook households filed lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas claiming Jones defamed them on his present and inflicted emotional misery by repeatedly suggesting the taking pictures, by which a gunman killed 20 first-grade youngsters and 6 adults, was a hoax.
Juries awarded the households practically $1.5 billion in complete of their lawsuits, however they’ve been unable to gather something from Jones, who claimed he can’t afford that huge a sum. He filed for chapter in late 2022, and a decide in June allowed him to liquidate his private property to assist repay the verdicts.
This is a creating story. Please examine again for updates.
