The Onion, the satirical news company that repeatedly duped conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, won the award. bankruptcy auction to gain control over his media empire—most notably the far-right, conspiracy-minded website Infowars, which serves as Jones’ primary online platform.

Jones Announced the sale at X Thursday morning.

“I learned 15 minutes ago that my lawyers and my family met with the U.S. trustee this morning regarding our bankruptcy and that they said they would close us down this morning even without a court order,” Jones said.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’ll be here until they come and turn off the lights,” he added.

The Onion plans to shut down Jones’ Infowars and rebuild the website, which features well-known internet humor writers and content creators, according to a person with knowledge of the sale. About an hour and a half after the sale was announced, Infowars’ website was taken down.

Lawyers for First United American Companies, which was named as the backup bidder in the auction, requested an immediate court-ordered meeting on Thursday regarding The Onion’s win; He claimed that “procedures have changed, there is a lack of transparency and false statements have been made to those involved.” bidders.”

The group said there was urgency because “the value of the assets is currently in the process of being destroyed.”

Jones, 50, one of alternative media’s most well-known and financially successful figures, has built a mini-empire with a radio show-turned-video operation centered around his Infowars brand, which focuses on false and often outlandish claims about major conspiracies and the government. wrong.

Details of Wednesday’s auction, including how much was bid for Infowars’ parent company Free Speech Systems and related assets, are not yet known. The funds from the sale are intended to satisfy Jones’ estate creditors, mostly the families of the victims. 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting To whom must compensation be paid in cases of defamation?

Families of Sandy Hook have filed lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas, claiming Jones slandered them on his show and caused emotional distress by repeatedly suggesting a shooting of a gunman. Killed 20 first-grade children and six adultsit was a scam.

The jury found Jones liable for defamation and awarded the families nearly $1.5 billion in total damages in the lawsuits he filed, but they were unable to collect anything from Jones, who claimed he could not afford such a large sum. HE filed for bankruptcy Judged in late 2022 and June allowed him to liquidate his personal assets to help pay for judgments.

The sale had the support of many families in Connecticut involved in the Sandy Hook shooting who are part of the lawsuit.

“Our clients knew that true liability meant the end of Infowars and the end of Jones’ ability to widely spread lies, pain and fear,” Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Connecticut families, said in a statement. “By Jones divesting from Infowars assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to cause further harm.”

Anti-violence organization Everytown for Gun Safety said The Onion will be the sole advertiser on its new venture as part of a multi-year agreement.

The group’s president, John Feinblatt, said in a statement that it hopes to “reach new audiences ready to hold the gun industry accountable for contributing to our nation’s epidemic of gun violence.”

Since April, The Onion has been led by CEO Ben Collins, who previously covered disinformation and conspiracy theories for NBC News; this often meant covering Jones. Collins has instituted several changes aimed at monetizing the business, including subscriptions, hosted live events and the return of physical copies of the newspaper and its television parody, the Onion News Network.

In June, Collins answered calls from his online followers for The Onion to acquire Infowars. a breast “I am researching.”

Those interested in purchasing Jones’ media company had submitted their final offer to federal court-appointed attorney Christopher Murray; he was tasked with selecting the best bid, if not the highest bid.

The identities of potential buyers were confidential because they had to accept confidentiality agreements in order to receive bidding materials.

The auction firms handling the sale said there were “no restrictions on the use of any property acquired in the bankruptcy order” and that the winner had the option of whether to continue Infowars’ operations.

On his show this week, amid calls for listeners to buy the subscriptions and nutritional supplements he sells, Jones painted a picture of his potential buyers, describing a group of anonymous bidders as friendly backers who would allow his show to operate normally. He said the others were “bad guys” who would shut down Infowars.

Jones said that he would continue broadcasting on an alternative channel if instructed to close it by a new buyer, and that he would be hampered by the loss of his brand, website and equipment, among other needs.

“Alex Jones and all the leftists celebrating the end of Infowars, you are all idiots,” he said. “Just watch.”

Seized at auction were Infowars’ production rights and supplies, the Infowars store, domain names, production equipment, and other assets that could be purchased in whole or in part, including a Terradyne armored truck and a Winnebago motorhome. The firm is ThreeSixty Asset Advisors. Jones broadcasts from the Austin, Texas area.

Auction Murray’s “regular closing processNewtown is under the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, which is overseeing the final phase of the case against Jones stemming from the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut.

In keeping with the satirical website, The Onion’s newsletter announcing the sale was written in the voice of a CEO of Global Tetrahedron, a fictional evil corporation created by Onion staff. Former tech executive Jeff Lawson named Global Tetrahedron for his actual company, which acquired The Onion from G/O Media in April.

“Despite all this, InfoWars has demonstrated an unwavering determination to manufacture outrage and radicalize society’s most vulnerable members—values ​​that resonate deeply with all of us at the Global Tetrahedron,” the statement said.

Jones founded Infowars, which operates under Free Speech Systems, in 1999. The company had about $6 million in cash and $1.2 million in inventory, according to previous court filings in June.

Families in Texas and Connecticut discussed in court There are concerns about how the money will be distributed during the liquidation process. Still, they said, Jones’ loss of his company brought responsibility for his past words.

At his 2022 trial in Texas, Jones generally accused the “corporate media” of twisting his words and misrepresenting him, but did not specify how.

Jones also used the ongoing lawsuit to galvanize his listeners while facing the loss of Infowars, while expressing his belief that Sandy Hook was “100% real.”