Dem
47
GOP
53
After 20 children and 7 adults were gunned down at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Alex Jones went on his InfoWars show and called it a hoax staged by actors. The parents of the murdered children sued Jones, won the case, and were awarded $1.5 billion in damages. Jones filed for bankruptcy and the court ordered InfoWars' name and facilities to be auctioned off to partially settle the judgment. The satirical website The Onion bid $1.75 million and won the auction. It planned to turn it into a parody site.
Jones claimed there was collusion at the auction and there was a bench hearing on the matter. On Tuesday, Judge Christopher Lopez voided the sale, saying the other ways to sell Jones' property could have produced more money for the parents of the slain children. It was a bit complicated, because a company that produces nutritional supplements, and which is a heavy advertiser on InfoWars, bid $3.5 million. However, the parents agreed to forego $750,000 of the auction proceeds due them and were willing to give it to other creditors who would otherwise get nothing.
Since InfoWars still belongs to Jones, he is continuing to use it to dish up outlandish conspiracy theories too swampy for even the most right-wing of the right-wing news outlets. The judge didn't call for a new auction, but said the bankruptcy trustee should decide what to do next. Meanwhile Jones gets a bit of breathing room until the trustee makes his next move. (V)