Judge Gamble hears Infowars licensing fight as takeover bid stalls
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble heard a proposed licensing agreement tied to infowars on Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Travis County District Court in Austin. The hearing involved The Onion’s bid to take control of Alex Jones’ outlet and left the takeover effort unresolved as new court battles emerged.
Gregory Milligan, the court-appointed manager controlling Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems LLC, was part of the court structure overseeing the case. Mark Bankston, who represents relatives of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting, also appeared in the legal fight over the proposed agreement.
April 30 Austin hearing
The Austin hearing focused on the proposed licensing agreement that would let The Onion take control of Infowars. Gamble presided over the proceeding in Travis County District Court, keeping the dispute inside a court-supervised process rather than letting the transfer move forward on its own.
That court setting matters for the parties already tied to the case. Free Speech Systems LLC sits under Milligan’s control, and the licensing plan has to move through that structure before any change in control can happen.
Jones and Bankston
Jones remains the public figure at the center of the fight. He spoke to the media after arriving at the federal courthouse for a hearing in Houston on June 14, 2024, more than a year before the Austin proceeding.
Bankston’s role keeps the case linked to the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting. He represents relatives of the victims, and their presence in the dispute shows that the Infowars transfer is still bound up in the long legal fight that followed that shooting.
Free Speech Systems LLC
Milligan’s position as court-appointed manager gives the court direct oversight of Free Speech Systems LLC, the company that owns Infowars. That leaves the proposed licensing arrangement dependent on the court process rather than a simple private transaction.
A copy of The Onion was seen in Little Rock, Ark., on Nov. 14, 2024, another marker that the satirical outlet stayed in public view while the Infowars bid moved through litigation. The immediate next step remains the court process in Austin, where the licensing agreement must clear the existing legal structure before control can change hands.
