Kevin O’Leary claimed opposition to his Utah data center was fueled by Chinese money. Now he and Fox News are being sued for defamation

In May, Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary blamed alleged Chinese Communist Party-adjacent actors for an influx of what he characterized as bot-written comments flooding his social media accounts in opposition to his proposal to build one of Utah’s largest data centers. Now, those accusations may be coming back to bite him.

On Wednesday, two Utah-based political organizations and their founders brought a defamation lawsuit against O’Leary and Fox News—where he made some of those comments—arguing his characterization of their alleged ties to the CCP had caused irreparable reputational harm.

In the suit, filed in Utah Federal District Court, the Alliance for a Better Utah and Elevate Strategies allege the Shark Tank star’s comments caused “devastating reputational harm, significant economic losses, severe emotional distress, and ongoing threats to their physical safety.” 

Joshua Kanter, founder of Alliance for a Better Utah, and Gabrielle Finlayson, a founder of Elevate Strategies, are the named plaintiffs in the suit. They are seeking compensatory damages to be determined at trial as well as “punitive and exemplary damages in an amount sufficient to punish Defendants and deter future misconduct.”

An attorney for O’Leary, Jeff Neiman, called the lawsuit a “cash grab” in a statement to Fortune, and said the organizations had used O’Leary’s comments as a catalyst to raise funds. In turn, Neiman noted, the lawsuit will open the organizations to further scrutiny. 

“The plaintiffs have put their operations, funding, and coordination squarely at issue. We welcome that, and we look forward to discovery and uncovering the facts related to the misinformation campaign against the data center in Utah,” Neiman said in the statement.

The lawsuit alleges that in at least 10 media appearances, O’Leary embarked........

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