Judge rejects Alex Jones' bid to shield Infowars from potential Onion deal
May 18-A federal judge has rejected an attempt by Alex Jones to keep Infowars, his conspiracy-peddling website, tied to his personal estate and protected from sale to the Onion, which wants to run it as a satire of the brand that's been Jones' life work.
The decision clears the way for state courts to decide the fate of the Texas-based brand.
In his battle to hold onto the site, Jones filed an appeal of a federal bankruptcy court's ruling separating the assets of Infowars parent company Free Speech Systems LLC from his personal estate, which is currently protected from sale.
But in a ruling Friday, Senior U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal found Jones had no right to appeal.
The moves are the latest by Jones since he declared bankruptcy after losing multiple defamation cases filed by families of children who were killed in 2012 at at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. He owes a combined $1.4 billion under those rulings and has made no payments in the years-old judgments.
The Onion licensing fight moves through Texas courts
His appeal was filed in response to the Onion's attempt to take over the site, most recently through a deal to license the Infowars trademark for its satirical offerings. Jones also recently started a competing site he dubbed Alex Jones Live.
Christopher M. Lopez, the bankruptcy judge in the case, has repeatedly said that because Free Speech Systems is an LLC, the assets do not belong to Jones.
At one point, Lopez issued an order allowing the sale of Infowars as part of Jones' personal bankruptcy case but later rejected the sale, citing a lack of transparency and flawed bidding process.
Since then, Jones has deployed many legal moves to push for his alleged ownership rights.
Lopez has repeatedly denied the idea those rights to the business are now subject to the automatic stay protecting Jones' personal assets, most recently in an October hearing that included several testy exchanges with the far-right influencer's attorney.
"You're just not versed in bankruptcy law," Lopez told the attorney at one point.
The business bankruptcy case for Free Speech Systems was closed in June 2024 and associated adversary proceedings closed last December.
Since then, the company and its assets have been turned over to a receiver in a proceeding in state District Court in Austin. That receiver, Gregory Milligan, attempted last month to license the intellectual property to Global Tetrahedron, the company behind the Onion.
Sandy Hook families continue push for payment
The case has ping-ponged through federal, state and district courts for years, leading the Sandy Hook families to say Jones is using a barrage of legal proceedings to delay payment.
The Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals stayed the licensing deal last month over a dispute related to an unpaid bond.
Jones also has accused the Onion of trying to destroy the assets of the company. It has launched a satirical version of Jones' programming that it intends to put on the domain, starring comedian Tim Heidecker.
Attorneys for the families recently have accused Jones of misappropriating physical and digital assets from the studios and website with his new brand and, they say, of therefore himself degrading the Infowars brand.
The families have appealed the 3rd Court of Appeals stay on the licensing deal to the Supreme Court of Texas.
It began reviewing the case May 5.
The most recent ruling, reaffirming that Infowars and its parent company's assets don't belong to Jones, may speed the court's work.
Jones could appeal Friday's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, but winning there would be a difficult task. His attorneys would have to overcome the dismissal for standing before he could argue the website is still part of his estate.
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