Briana Sanchez / Pool via Reuters
Alex Jones, the embattled Austin-based conspiracy-peddler, is suing The Onion and families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in an attempt to block a takeover of Infowars.
The satirical news platform partnered with Sandy Hook families to buy Jones’ flagship site at a bankruptcy auction last week. Jones owes the families roughly $1.5 billion in damages for regularly calling the mass shooting a hoax and accusing relatives of being crisis actors.
But the sale of Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, isn’t a done deal; a bankruptcy judge agreed to hear a challenge from the losing bidder, First United American Companies.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, Jones asked the federal bankruptcy court to side with First United, which runs his online supplement store. He also asked the court to prevent The Onion from using his likeness if the sale does go through.
Jones tweeted that he was “taking on the deep state at point-blank range.” He also claimed without evidence that court documents proved the CIA was behind the sale.
“I need funds,” he said, while plugging his alternate online store for supplements. “We are suing these people up one side and down the other.”
The Onion planned to revamp the site to parody the longtime conspiracy theorist and host, something CEO Ben Collins called “the funniest thing ever.”
“We’re going to … give some people a good place on the internet to go to because that’s very rare now. That’s a big part of why we want to do,” he told ABC News. “The media ecosystem is just filled with lies and hate and garbage, and we want to give people a place to at least laugh at it.”
First United American Companies has contested the auction, suggesting the closed-bidding process was opaque.
Federal Judge Christopher Lopez agreed, saying it should have been a more traditional auction.
“No one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction,” he said, putting a pause on the sale while the case is heard.
A hearing on whether it can go forward is slated for next week.