Judge to audit if conspiracy theorist’s bankruptcy auction was fair, which could delay buying process for satire site

“We’re all going to an evidentiary hearing and I’m going to figure out exactly what happened,” the judge, Christopher Lopez, said in an emergency hearing on Thursday afternoon. “No one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction.”

Oh bullshit.

  • _bcron_@lemmy.worldEnglish
    761·
    6 hours ago

    Is this not the capitalist dystopia they wanted? It was an auction, The Onion was the highest bidder, and the discussion should stop there, right?

    • Kyuuketsuki@lemmy.mlEnglish
      47·
      5 hours ago

      “The Onion was the highest bidder[…]”

      Literally the point of the suit is that The Onion was not the highest bidder. From the article:

      The exact bid amount offered by the Onion for InfoWars remains unknown, but it has been reported it was lower than First United American’s bid of $3.5m.

      The victims of Jones decided it was better to get less money and not allow the brand to go to one of his allies to continue the usual operations. They are saying that even though they effectively own the brand, that they don’t have the right to choose who it’s sold to.

      There is only one way this should go, but…

      • _bcron_@lemmy.worldEnglish
        34·
        6 hours ago

        The other bid wouldn’t be an arm’s-length transaction because that entity does business with Alex Jones

        • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          31·
          4 hours ago

          Auctions are contracts, most of them are beholden to the highest bidder. I am guessing thr lawyers are either being paid to make media waves, or they didn’t read the terms of the auction.

          • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.eeEnglish
            12·
            4 hours ago

            The trustee and auction house are allowed to accept lower bids. Especially ones that make the creditors more whole, which this one does. So no that’s not why

            • TachyonTele@lemm.eeEnglish
              113·
              3 hours ago

              Ok. Well, feel free to tell everyone why since you seem to know so much.

              • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.eeEnglish
                9·
                3 hours ago

                Jones is raising a stink because he feels like the bidding process was cut short and the rules were changed once his bid was the clear winner. He’s a moron and he’s wrong and he’s also not allowed to bid, so his bid by proxy will hopefully be caught and punished

                • TachyonTele@lemm.eeEnglish
                  212·
                  2 hours ago

                  Im glad you were there. But you should have told the New York Times, the AP, and the Guardian instead of us.

          • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.socialEnglish
            6·
            4 hours ago

            Sellers have a right to accept lower bids, or to accept non-monetary “value” and it happens literally every day in real estate.

            What I don’t know is whether the nature of the auction actually changes things.