A lawsuit filed in New York has now reportedly cast a dark shadow over the family of Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, alleging that the conduct of his wife and children drove a young aide to take his own life.
The suit was brought by Thomas Maltezos, the husband of Brandon O’Brien, a 35-year-old aide to Nancy Bass Wyden, the senator’s spouse and heiress to Manhattan’s Strand Bookstore. According to court filings reported by the New York Post, O’Brien endured two years of relentless harassment, slurs, and humiliation from the Wyden children while working for Nancy, culminating in his suicide this past May.
Maltezos claims O’Brien faced deeply inappropriate behavior from multiple members of the family. One allegation states that Wyden’s daughter, then only 10 years old, exposed herself to O’Brien and directed “sexually explicit” comments at him, even pressing him for details about his relationship with Maltezos during school drop-offs. Nancy, the suit contends, ignored the disturbing behavior.
Wyden’s son is accused of a more aggressive form of abuse. The complaint asserts that he repeatedly hurled homophobic slurs at O’Brien, calling him “f***ot” and “zest kitten,” and once claimed his football team “would r*pe him.” On one occasion, Nancy allegedly resorted to spraying mace to stop her son from throwing objects at O’Brien. The spray, however, struck the aide as well.
The pattern of harassment, Maltezos argues, left O’Brien broken. He resigned from his position in September 2024, but instead of receiving peace, he faced further turmoil. Nancy reported O’Brien to New York police, accusing him of stealing $650,000 through credit cards and other means, the Post reported. Maltezos’ suit alleges that Nancy then hired a private investigator to dig into O’Brien’s personal life, spreading damaging rumors among colleagues.
The theft investigation collapsed following O’Brien’s death, but the damage was already done. In a mournful LinkedIn post, Maltezos remembered their 14 years together, calling O’Brien “the love of my life, my heart, and my home,” and urged others to “hold your loved ones close.”
Attorneys for Nancy Bass Wyden have rejected the lawsuit in the strongest terms, dismissing it as “baseless and deeply misguided” and claiming it was “riddled with false accusations.” They maintain that the complaint is an effort to obscure what they described as O’Brien’s “documented pattern of theft.”
Maltezos’ attorneys countered with sharp language of their own. “The allegations against the senator’s wife are shocking, disturbing, and cruel — no person should ever be subject to this level of harassment, much less in the workplace,” they said.
The case has already ignited broader questions about accountability within political families and the standards to which public officials and their households are held. For conservatives, the allegations cut against a familiar pattern: Democrats often present themselves as champions of workplace protections and defenders of vulnerable communities, but the suit describes behavior that is both hostile and dismissive toward a gay staff member.
As the lawsuit proceeds, the Wyden family faces not only legal jeopardy but also the court of public opinion, where accusations of abuse, homophobia, and retaliation are difficult to reconcile with the image of a progressive senator long entrenched in Washington.
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