Four plaintiffs claim Fox invited O’Leary five times to air his false accusations in three weeks without contacting them for comment.
(CN) — A Utah nonprofit and a political consulting firm sued Canadian businessman and TV personality Kevin O’Leary and Fox News Media over since-corrected claims O’Leary made that they were working for the Chinese Communist Party in opposing a data center he wants to build in Utah.
Alliance for a Better Utah, its founder Joshua Kanter, Elevate Strategies and one of its founders Gabi Finlayson said in a complaint filed Wednesday in Utah federal court that, without evidence whatsoever, O’Leary said in a May 11 interview on Fox Business that they were proxies for the Chinese government.
“O’Leary proceeded to engage in a weekslong smear campaign against plaintiffs,” they write in the lawsuit. “Across at least ten separate media appearances broadcast to millions of viewers and shared with millions more online, O’Leary repeated his malicious, false claims that plaintiffs were agents of China and engaging in criminal conduct.”
O’Leary — who acquired the nickname “Mr. Wonderful” through his appearance’s on ABC’s business reality TV show “Shark Tank” — insisted that he wasn’t suggesting or inferring that the Utah nonprofit and consulting firm were operating on behalf of a foreign adversary, the plaintiffs say, but claimed that he had proven it based on the work of a team of data scientists.
Fox, they claim, affirmed or outright endorsed O’Leary’s statements by inviting him five times in three weeks on various programs to air them.
“Fox did so even after plaintiffs immediately and vociferously denied O’Leary’s claims,” they write. “It did so without contacting any of the plaintiffs for comment or to verify O’Leary’s statements.”
It was only after receiving a legal demand for a retraction and compensation, the plaintiffs say, that O’Leary said in a social media post last month that he had no evidence that the Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies or Kanter Finlayson were funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party.
Fox shortly thereafter reported O’Leary’s “clarification” and issued an apology.
“But these efforts, which were intended to dissuade plaintiffs from asserting their legal claims, fail to even remotely address the harms that O’Leary and Fox have caused,” according to the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for defamation.
“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 network said in a statement. “We will vigorously defend against this lawsuit.”
An attorney for O’Leary didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
O’Leary announced in April that he plans to build a massive, 40,000-acre data center in Box Elder County, Utah. In an April 27, 2026, O’Leary appeared on the Fox show “Fox and Friends” to discuss his proposed project and claimed the construction of data centers is necessary for the U.S. to keep up with China in the AI “arms race.”
The project, which the plaintiffs say would require more than double the amount of continuous electricity power than the entire state of Utah requires, has generated concerns from local residents and state politicians that it would consume scarce water resources, pollute the air, and disrupt the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from Platkin LLP in Belleville, New Jersey.
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