The purchase of Alex Jones ' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction by the satirical news publication The Onion is the latest twist in a yearslong saga between the far-right conspiracy theorist and families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims.

The sale was ordered after relatives of many of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 shooting successfully sued Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress. Jones repeatedly made false claims on his show that the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.

Here are some things to know about how Jones' misinformation empire ended up on the auction block.

The rise of Infowars
Fresh out of high school in the early 1990s, Jones, a barrel-chested, gravelly voiced Texas native, started broadcasting on a public-access television channel in the state capital. From the start, Jones promoted conspiracies about the U.S. government and false claims about a secret New World Order.

In 2004, Jones had two employees and a tiny office in south Austin. In 2007, he formed Free Speech Systems, to run his growing media business, according to court records in his bankruptcy cases. By 2010, Jones had over 60 employees.

As the outlandish nature of his false claims grew, so did his media empire, with annual revenues of up to $80 million, and a fanbase that at his height listened to him on more than 100 radio stations across the United States as well as through his Infowars website and social media.

Jones' Newtown lies
Jones has acknowledged in court that he promoted the conspiracy theory that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax perpetrated in part by the U.S. government as part of an effort... Read More