An auction company executive involved in the liquidation of Alex Jones’ conspiracy theory platform Infowars testified for nearly five hours Monday, as a bankruptcy judge in Texas began a hearing into whether The Onion satirical news outlet was properly named the winning bidder over a company affiliated with Jones.
Jeff Tanenbaum, president of ThreeSixty Asset Advisors, was grilled by lawyers for Jones and the company in a Houston courtroom over how The Onion’s bid came to be valued at $7 million and why a live auction was not held. He defended both the value of the bid and its selection after the two sealed offers were opened.
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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez continued the hearing to Tuesday afternoon, when the trustee overseeing the sale of Jones’ assets is expected to take the stand. Lopez could ultimately decide whether to void The Onion’s bid, name the Jones-affiliated company the winner or hold another auction, among other possibilities.
Jones and First United American Companies, which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements and submitted the other bid, are alleging fraud and collusion in the auction that concluded on Nov. 14. The trustee and The Onion deny the allegations, accusing Jones and the company of sour grapes.
The sale of Infowars is part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, which he filed in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas filed by relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. Jones repeatedly called the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors and aimed at increasing gun control.
Most of the proceeds from the sale of Infowars, as well as many of Jones’ personal assets, will go to the Sandy Hook families to help satisfy judgments issued by juries and judges in state courts in Connecticut and Texas. Some proceeds will go to Jones’ other creditors.
The Onion, which wants to turn Infowars’ website and social media accounts into parodies, offered $1.75 million for Infowars’ assets in the auction, while First United American Companies bid $3.5 million.
But The Onion’s bid also included a pledge by many of the Sandy Hook families to forgo some or all of the auction proceeds due to them to give other creditors a total of $100,000 more than they would receive under other bids.
The trustee, Christopher Murray, chose The Onion, saying its proposal was better for creditors because they would receive more money. The Onion valued the bid, with the Sandy Hook families’ offer, at $7 million, because that amount was equal to a purchase price that would provide the same amount of money to the other creditors.
Tanenbaum testified that he agreed with the $7 million valuation and believed The Onion’s bid conformed to the auction rules.
A lawyer for Jones, Ben Broocks, asked Tanenbaum how it was possible that the Sandy Hook families’ offer boosted The Onion’s offer to such a high amount.
“It means the purchase price value has gone up because another purchase price would have to be higher than that value in order to provide the same net benefit to that group of creditors,” Tanenbaum said.
During his opening argument, Broocks said there was no way The Onion should have been chosen over First United American.
“How does a $1.75 million bid beat a $3.5 million bid?” he asked. “How is that $1.75 million greater? Well, it’s voodoo economics to use a phrase.”
Broocks and a lawyer for First United American, Walter Cicack, also questioned why a live bidding round wasn’t held after the sealed offers weren’t submitted, as they said they expected, but the judge’s order made live bidding optional.
Jones has been criticizing the sale process on his show and social media sites, calling it “rigged” and a “fraud.”
Joshua Wolfshohl, an attorney for Murray, told the judge Monday that no wrongdoing occurred during the auction. He called the complaints by Jones and First United American Companies unfounded.
“The vast majority of their complaints are just fantastic, imagined conspiracy theories that have no basis in reality,” he said.
Murray, The Onion and the Sandy families deny allegations of wrongdoing. In his own court filing, Murray called the allegations “a disappointed bidder’s improper attempt to influence an otherwise fair and open auction process.”
Up for sale at the auction were all the equipment and other assets in the Infowars studio in Austin, Texas, as well as its social media accounts, websites, video archive and product trademarks. Jones uses the studio to broadcast his far-right, conspiracy theory-filled shows on the Infowars website, his account on the social platform X and radio stations.
Jones has set up another studio, websites and social media accounts in case The Onion wins approval to buy Infowars and kicks him out. Jones has said he could continue using the Infowars platforms if the auction winner is friendly to him.
Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments citing free speech rights but has acknowledged that the school shooting happened.
On Friday, a Connecticut appeals court reduced by $150 million the original $1.44 billion judgment against Jones in the lawsuit against him in that state, but upheld the rest of the award. Jones’ lawyer said he will ask Connecticut’s highest court to review the appellate ruling. Jones is also appealing a $50 million judgment in a similar Texas defamation lawsuit.