Back in May, “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary made a series of media appearances accusing some vocal opponents of his data center plans in Box Elder County, Utah, of being foreign-backed agents.
Now, Mr. Wonderful is being sued for defamation.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a Utah federal district court, Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, and two of the groups’ founders sued O’Leary and Fox News, alleging that O’Leary falsely accused them of being foreign operatives backed by the Chinese Communist Party.
The complaint identifies at least 10 media appearances between May 11 and June 3, in which O’Leary repeated the accusations.
In one Fox News segment, O’Leary accused cofounders of Elevate Strategies, Gabi Finlayson and Jackie Morgan, of being “proxies for the Chinese Government.” Finlayson is one of the plaintiffs in the suit. The complaint also includes a separate defamation claim brought by Alliance for a Better Utah and its founder, Joshua Kanter, against Fox News for airing O’Leary’s comments.
A spokesperson for Fox News Media said in a statement to Business Insider that the network would “vigorously defend” against the lawsuit and that it “publicly corrected the record on every program where on-air guest Kevin O’Leary’s comments were made, all of which was extensively publicized.”
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O’Leary has also sought to clarify some of his allegations.
“Recently I appeared on various news programs and would like to clarify that I have no evidence that Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, Gabrielle Finlayson, Taylor Knuth or Josh Kanter are funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party,” he wrote in an Instagram post from June 25.
The plaintiffs say O’Leary’s comments have brought “severe reputational damage and significant economic harm,” including the loss of clients and business opportunities. The suit seeks monetary and punitive damages, though a dollar amount was not specified.
“Our clients were exercising their right to express their opinions about the future of their community,” Matthew Platkin, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “Rather than respond to their concerns, Kevin O’Leary chose to launch a national smear campaign built on absurd falsehoods that Fox News repeatedly affirmed and amplified. This lawsuit seeks to ensure there is accountability when powerful people weaponize lies to silence critics.”
In a statement to Business Insider, Jeffrey Neiman, an attorney for O’Leary, said his client would defend against the suit and may bring counterclaims. The lawyer called the case a “cash grab” and said that the plaintiffs declined an invitation to discuss the project.
“The plaintiffs have put their operations, funding, and coordination squarely at issue,” Neiman wrote. “We welcome that, and we look forward to discovery and uncovering the facts related to the misinformation campaign against the data center in Utah.”
At the center of the controversy is the Stratos Project, a massive hyperscale data center campus near Great Salt Lake that was initially approved for 40,000 acres and is expected to require up to 9 gigawatts of power at full buildout.
Residents have raised concerns about water use, air quality, noise, traffic, and the project’s approval process. The backlash prompted Gov. Spencer Cox to issue an executive order tightening rules for data center development in the state, covering water resources, wildlife protection, utility rates, and public participation.
Alliance for a Better Utah and five state residents filed a separate lawsuit in June seeking to halt Stratos by targeting the approval process behind the project.
