A company aligned with right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones sought permission to move forward with an $8 million bid for the assets of Infowars’ parent Free Speech Systems LLC.
First United American Cos. renewed its effort to acquire the assets in a motion Tuesday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company made its request two months after a judge rejected an offer from satirical news site, the Onion, and two weeks after the judge shut down the auction process.
First United operates a website for online supplement store ShopAlexJones.com.
The company more than doubled its initial $3.5 million bid, despite Judge Christopher Lopez’s statement earlier this month that he didn’t want another complicated auction process for the assets. He said Free Speech Systems’ equity could be sold as an alternative.
First United said in its filing that the court’s recent ruling wasn’t relevant to its $8 million bid for the assets. It argued that it’s “impossible to value the equity” given the more than $1.3 billion in judgments Jones was ordered to pay related to his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
Christopher Murray, the trustee overseeing Jones’ bankruptcy proceeding, hasn’t responded to First United’s offer, the filing said. However, Murray recently asked for permission to return deposits to First United and Global Tetrahedron LLC—the Onion’s corporate parent—from their prior bids.
The trustee has been holding a $120,000 “good faith” deposit from First United and more than $1.8 million from the Onion representing a deposit and the cash portion of its unsuccessful bid.
First United is represented by Hawash Cicack & Gaston LLP. The Chapter 7 trustee is represented by Jones Murray LLP and Porter Hedges LLP.
The case is Alexander E. Jones, Bankr. S.D. Tex., No. 22-bk-33553, motion 2/18/25.
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