Two months after he labeled them Chinese agents while defending a massive data center proposal, two Utahns are suing celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary for defamation.
Joshua Kanter, founder of the left-leaning nonprofit Alliance for a Better Utah, and Gabrielle Finlayson, of the political firm Elevate Strategies, filed suit Wednesday against O’Leary and Fox News, saying the businessman of “Shark Tank” fame and the television network led a “weekslong smear campaign” against them.
O’Leary did not immediately respond to a request for comment left with his company O’Leary Digital on Wednesday. A Fox News Media spokesperson provided a prepared statement to Utah News Dispatch, asking it be included in full.
“FOX News Media publicly corrected the record on every program where on-air guest Kevin O’Leary’s comments were made, all of which was extensively publicized,” the statement reads. “We will vigorously defend against this lawsuit.”
O’Leary corrected his claims last month, saying in a social media post that he has “no evidence” Kanter, Finlayson or their organizations were funded by China. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Salt Lake City, alleges he did so after he received their legal demand for a retraction, and it notes Fox News covered the development, issuing an apology for the error.
But Finlayson and Kanter contend that doesn’t make up for the effects of what their attorneys call a “weekslong smear campaign.”
In a social media post in May, Finlayson joked about O’Leary’s comments and pledged to continue her advocacy, though in a written statement Wednesday she described “real, long-lasting consequences” from O’Leary’s claims.
“I spent years building my reputation, my business, and the trust of my community. In just weeks, Kevin O’Leary tore it all down with lies,” Finlayson said. “When someone with Kevin O’Leary’s platform falsely tells millions of people you’re working for a foreign adversary, you don’t just move on after an apology.”
O’Leary, who’d become the face and voice of the Stratos data center proposal, had accused the pair of being “two cells inside of Utah” seeking to undermine American development of artificial intelligence on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, the lawsuit notes. He made the comment while speaking on a Fox Business program.
Kanter and Finlayson allege that in repeated television appearances, O’Leary described his statements as “irrefutable fact” and said he’d turned evidence over to law enforcement.
“We were forced into the surreal position of having to publicly deny that we were agents of a foreign government,” Kanter said in a news release. “Those false accusations turned our lives upside down, damaged our reputations, harmed our organizations and livelihoods, and caused unimaginable emotional distress.”
They contend O’Leary had sought to discredit local opposition to the data center project in Box Elder County, which received initial approval from Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority and a green light from the county’s three member commission. The plan generated intense public outcry and played a major part in unseating one of Utah’s most powerful politicians, Senate President Stuart Adams, in the June Republican primary.
“This lawsuit seeks to ensure there is accountability when powerful people weaponize lies to silence critics,” said their attorney Matthew Platkin, in a news release. His clients are seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
