(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has put himself front and center in recent calls for the Justice Department to investigate deceased pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
As long as this goes on, Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are just running interference for pedophiles. It's disgusting. https://t.co/wknndW8o26
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) September 5, 2025
While the Epstein issue has conservatives split over whether to fall in line with President Donald Trump or demand more transparency and accountability, Wyden has been consistent in his desire to press the issue, overseeing an investigation that began in 2022.
But he may now have a scandal of his own to reckon with, potentially undermining his moral authority to seek justice for Epstein’s victims.
A new lawsuit alleges that Wyden’s children drove his wife’s personal assistant—and their de-facto nanny—to suicide by tormenting him with sexual innuendo and derogatory remarks about his sexuality, then suing him for $650,000, the New York Post reported.
Thomas Maltezos vs. Nancy Bass Wyden
The suit was filed by Thomas Maltezos, the legal husband of Brandon O’Brien, who alleged in the Sept. 12 summons filed against Nancy Bass Wyden in the New York Supreme Court that two young children terrorized O’Brien while he was employed by Mrs. Wyden from June 2022 to September 2024.
The Wydens’ 10-year-old daughter allegedly exposed herself to O’Brien, made sexually explicit comments and asked invasive questions about his sex life.
A teenage son allegedly referred to O’Brien by pejorative anti-gay terms including “faggot” and “zest kitten.” The boy also threw things at O’Brien and said his football team “would rape him,” according to the suit.
At one point, Bass Wyden “maced her son to restrain him but inadvertently maced Mr. O’Brien,” the suit said.
A day after O’Brien quit, on Sept. 30, 2024, Bass Wyden filed a report with the New York Police Department that accused O’Brien of theft and credit card charges of $650,000. She also hired a private investigator and set about trashing his reputation, the suit alleged.
“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,” Maltzeos’s lawyers said in a statement.
A distraught O’Brien committed suicide on May 26, 2025, at the age of 35.
“Brandon worked as an executive assistant and made every space better with his quiet grace and unwavering loyalty,” Maltezos wrote in an online post announcing his death. “I am completely heartbroken without him.”
Bass Wyden, whose family owns the landmark Strand Bookstore in New York City’s East Village, is seeking to have the suit tossed, according to court documents.
A statement released through her real estate company called it “baseless and deeply misguided” and “riddled with false accusations.”
It accused Maltezos of using the suit as an effort to “deflect attention” from his dead husband’s misconduct.
Ron Wyden, who became a senator in 1996 after 15 years in the House of Representatives, married Bass Wyden—his second wife—in 2005. In addition to the couple’s three kids, he has two adult children from his first marriage.
He has sided on occasion with libertarian-leaning lawmakers, not only in his advocacy of an Epstein investigation, but also regularly pushing back on government spying on citizens.
However, on other issues he has proven to be one of the farthest left lawmakers, fighting back against the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce crime and illegal immigration.
Donald Trump is scapegoating cities and immigrants for his own policies that are destroying our economy and making American families sicker and poorer. https://t.co/EpiHZUprhj
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) August 14, 2025
Ratings indicate that he has increasingly skewed leftward over time, voting with conservatives 0% of the time in 2022.
He has regularly touted himself as an ally to those in the LGBT community, condemning the “bigotry, hate, and violence” against them in recent legislation to force sanctions on governments that commit human-rights violations.
“We can’t let oppressive regimes get away with jailing or murdering individuals simply because of who they love and how they identify,” he continued. “This bill sends a clear message to bad actors overseas: there is no place for violence and discrimination against the LGBTQI+ community.”
Wyden also joined other 11 other Democrats in a video addressed to suicidal gay youths, telling them, “when you feel that Justice is far away, you’re going to have some very powerful friends in the United States to stand up for you.”
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
