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The Onion’s takeover of InfoWars has been halted by a federal bankruptcy judge
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The Onion’s takeover of InfoWars has been halted by a federal bankruptcy judge

The Onion’s satirical outlet acquisition of Alex Joneshis InfoWars was halted by a federal bankruptcy judge after lawyers for Jones and his company complained about the way the auction went.

Thursday, THE Onion was named the winner of the bankruptcy auction, bidding $3.5 million for the site. Jones was ordered to sell the site, among other business entities, after it was summoned to pay $1.5 billion in damages for his wide-ranging conspiracies that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, in which more than a dozen schoolchildren and six adults were killed, was a hoax.

A group of affected Sandy Hook families who filed the defamation suit against Jones agreed to accept a lower payment to increase the total value of the Onion’s offer, the families’ attorneys said.

At Thursday’s bankruptcy hearing, the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy auction said that while Onion didn’t have the highest bid, the Sandy Hook families’ agreement to forego a portion of the defamation award to pay Jones’ other creditors made the Onion’s offer the best overall deal, conformable TO Associated Press.

Judge Christopher Lopez said he was concerned about the way the bidding process was conducted. He ordered a hearing for next week to review how the auction was conducted.

“We’re all going to an evidentiary hearing and I’m going to find out exactly what happened,” he said. “No one should be comfortable with the results of this auction.”

An exact date for next week’s hearing was not immediately set.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Jones considered the Onion’s purchase of his site fraudulent. He said: “This was an auction that did not take place, with a lower bid, with money that was not real.

In their acquisition, Onion said they plan to return InfoWarswhich for decades has debunked conspiracy theories and misinformation in a parody site. The Onion said it will relaunch the site in January.