Judge Christopher Lopez cited “great lack of clarity” in the auction process as his reasoning for the ruling.
Originally, The Onion had collaborated with Sandy Hook families to bid in the auction sale of Infowars, and were awarded the win despite not having the highest bid.
A judge late Tuesday night said he would not approve the sale of Infowars, the website founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, to the Chicago-based satirical publication The Onion, prolonging a messy tug of war between two high-profile suitors.
The ruling, by Judge Christopher Lopez in federal bankruptcy court in Houston, puts The Onion’s plan to take possession of the Infowars site and its associated assets in limbo. The Onion’s bid was backed by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones.
A spokesman for The Onion did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Mr. Jones did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Though the case involved colorful litigants dueling for a controversial prize, it ultimately hinged on austere matters of protocol. The arguments over two days of court hearings boiled down to whether the court-appointed trustee adhered to the law when he solicited bids and ultimately picked Global Tetrahedron, The Onion’s parent company, as the winner.
The total value of The Onion’s bid was $7 million, including $1.75 million in cash put up by Global Tetrahedron, with the rest coming from the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, who essentially opted to put a portion of their potential earnings from a defamation judgment against Mr. Jones toward The Onion’s bid.
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