The satirical news publication The Onion was named the winning bidder for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.

The purchase would turn over Jones’ company, which for decades has peddled in conspiracy theories and misinformation, to a humor website that plans to relaunch the Infowars platform in January as a parody. The judge in Jones’ bankruptcy ordered a hearing for next week after Jones and his lawyers raised questions about how the auction was conducted.

Within hours of the sale’s announcement Thursday, Infowars’ website was down and Jones was broadcasting from what he said was a new studio location.

“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by his lawyers.

The Onion’s bid was for the conspiracy theory platform’s website, social media accounts, studio in Austin, Texas, trademarks and video archive. The price was undisclosed.

Lawyers for Jones and a company affiliated with Infowars that submitted a $3.5 million offer said they had expected a round of bidding to be held Wednesday in which prospective buyers could outbid each other. They alleged that the trustee overseeing the auction changed the process days before and instead opened only sealed bids that were submitted.

Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston said he had concerns. The exact day and time for the hearing have not yet been determined.

The satirical outlet — which carries the banner of “America’s Finest News Source” on its masthead — was founded in the 1980s and for decades has skewered politics and pop culture, including making Jones a frequent target of mocking articles. Mass shootings in the U.S., such as the Sandy Hook attack, are often followed by The Onion publishing slightly updated versions of one of its most well-known recurring pieces: “’No Way to Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”

On his live broadcast, Jones was angry and defiant, vowing to challenge the sale in court and calling it “a total attack on free speech.” He later announced his show was being shut down. Jones, who had told listeners for days that he had a new studio set up nearby, then resumed his broadcast from the new location, carrying them live on his accounts on X.

The Onion, based in Chicago, consulted on the bidding with some of the Sandy Hook families that sued Jones for defamation and emotional distress in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas, lawyers for the families said.

Sandy Hook families sued Jones and his company for repeatedly saying on his show that the shooting that killed 20 children and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.