NEW YORK — On Tuesday, a U.S. judge stopped The Onion, a parody news outlet, from acquiring Alex Jones’ Infowars website. The decision came after the judge determined that the recent bankruptcy auction did not yield the best possible offers.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez dismissed Jones’ accusations of “collusion” during the two-day hearing in Houston. However, he noted that the bankruptcy trustee responsible for managing the auction made a “good-faith error” by hastily seeking final offers for Infowars without promoting further negotiations between The Onion and a Jones-affiliated firm that was the second-highest bidder.

“This should have been re-opened for everyone,” Lopez remarked. “It’s evident that the trustee missed out on a substantial amount of potential money.”

Lopez indicated that neither of the two bids for Infowars was adequate considering Jones’ extensive debts and instructed the trustee to resolve some issues with creditors before attempting to sell Infowars again.

The Onion was previously named the winning bidder for Infowars during a November auction; however, Jones and his associate company, First American United Companies, contended that the sale process was compromised because The Onion gained excessive favor due to backing from families who secured large court rulings against Jones.

Jones filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and had to sell off his assets to cover $1.3 billion in legal judgments owed to the families of 20 students and six staff members killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Courts in both Connecticut and Texas determined that Jones defamed the victims’ families by falsely claiming the shooting was staged as a part of a government conspiracy to confiscate firearms from citizens.

The Onion expressed intentions to relaunch Infowars in 2025, aiming to transform it into a parody site that features “noticeably less hateful disinformation” than its predecessor.

During Monday’s hearing, Jones’ attorney, Ben Broocks, argued before Lopez that The Onion’s cash offer was significantly lower than the $3.5 million bid from First American United Companies, claiming that The Onion inflated its proposal with misleading tactics.

The families affected by the Sandy Hook tragedy, who are Jones’ largest creditors, enhanced The Onion’s offer by opting to waive some repayment from the sale of Infowars, allowing other creditors to receive more funds.

Christopher Murray, the court-appointed trustee tasked with selling Jones’ assets, testified on Tuesday that the auction was conducted fairly, stating that First American United Companies only raised concerns about the process after their bid was not selected.