An explosive lawsuit claims that children of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) ruthlessly tormented their mom’s personal assistant, driving him to commit suicide.
First reported by The New York Post, Brandon O’Brien, 35, worked for the senator’s wife, Nancy Bass Wyden from June 2022 to September 2024 and was “frequently tasked” with caring for the couple’s young kids, including driving them to school in NYC and watching them during trips to Disneyworld.
According to the lawsuit, the disturbing behavior began in September 2022 when the couple’s then-10-year-old daughter allegedly exposed herself to O’Brien, making “sexually explicit” comments and asking about his “intimate life” during school drop-offs.
O’Brien’s husband, Thomas Maltezos, made the shocking allegations in court papers he filed against Bass Wyden and her company, Bass Real Estate LLC.
The suit also claims that the Wydens’ teenage son berated O’Brien with homophobic slurs such as “f—-t” and “zest kitten,” and the boy said “his football team ‘would rape him.”‘
The boy allegedly threw things at O’Brien and the mom once “maced her son to restrain him but inadvertently maced Mr. O’Brien,” according to the Manhattan Supreme Court papers.
Some of the alleged abuse took place at Disney in front of Maltezos and his mother, the widower claimed.
But the mom allegedly did nothing about the behavior, Maltezos stated in court records obtained by the media.
When O’Brien quit his role on Sept. 30, 2024, Bass Wyden, 64, filed a report with the NYPD the next day, accusing him of $650,000 in credit card and other thefts, the New York Post reported.
Bass Wyden allegedly hired a private investigator to “probe into Mr. O’Brien’s personal life and business dealings,” according to court papers.
By January, the prominent businesswoman “spread false rumors … to industry contacts and [his] professional colleagues,” leaving O’Brien distraught.
O’Brien committed suicide on May 26.
Maltezos announced his husband’s death in emotional social media posts.
“It is with a shattered heart that I announce my beloved husband … died by suicide,” he wrote.
“Brandon worked as an executive assistant and made every space better with his quiet grace and unwavering loyalty. I am completely heartbroken without him.”
Authorities dropped the theft case after the suicide.
Lawyers for Maltezos insisted the accusation was false.
“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,” Maltezos’ attorneys, Eric Baum and Reyna Lubin, said in a statement.
Lawyers for Bass Wyden are currently seeking to have Maltezos’ lawsuit tossed, court records show.
The lawsuit is “baseless and deeply misguided” and “riddled with false accusations,” a Bass Real Estate spokesperson said in a statement.
“It appears to be a continued effort to deflect attention from O’Brien’s own serious misconduct, including a documented pattern of theft from those he once worked for.”
Sen. Wyden’s office did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.