(NEW YORK) — The satirical website The Onion purchased InfoWars on Thursday, a capstone on years of litigation and bankruptcy proceedings following InfoWars founder Alex Jones’ defamation of families associated with the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
Those families backed The Onion’s bid to purchase InfoWars’ intellectual property, including its website, customer lists and inventory, certain social media accounts and the production equipment used to put Jones on the air. The Connecticut families agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of The Onion’s bid, enabling its success.
The families said the purchase would put an end to Jones’ misinformation campaign.
“We were told this outcome would be nearly impossible, but we are no strangers to impossible fights. The world needs to see that having a platform does not mean you are above accountability — the dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.
In 2022, the families that brought the case against Jones in Connecticut secured a $1.4 billion verdict in their defamation lawsuit. A Texas bankruptcy court ruled on the liquidation of Jones’ assets in June of this year, handing over control to an independent trustee tasked with selling them off to generate the greatest possible value for the families.
“From day one, these families have fought against all odds to bring true accountability to Alex Jones and his corrupt business. Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear at scale. After surviving unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’ hollow offers for allegedly more money if they would only let him stay on the air because doing so would have put other families in harm’s way,” said Chris Mattei, attorney for the Connecticut plaintiffs and partner at Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder.
Jones had filed for bankruptcy last year in a bid to avoid paying the billion-dollar judgment, but a judge ruled he still had to settle with the Sandy Hook families.
Bankruptcy often staves off legal judgments but not if they are the result of willful and malicious injury. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston decided that standard was satisfied in Jones’ case.
“[I]n Jones’s case, the language of the jury instruction confirms that the damages awarded flow from the allegation of intent to harm the Plaintiffs – not allegations of recklessness,” Lopez wrote in his ruling.
Jones had claimed on his InfoWars show that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School — which killed 26 people, including 20 elementary students — was performed by actors following a script written by government officials to bolster the push for gun control.
ABC News’ Max Zahn contributed to this report.
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