Sen. Ron Wyden’s Children Accused of Driving Assistant to Suicide in Explosive Lawsuit

Sen. Ron Wyden’s Children Accused of Driving Assistant to Suicide in Explosive Lawsuit

The children of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are accused of tormenting their mother’s longtime assistant, ultimately driving him to suicide, according to a Manhattan lawsuit.

Brandon O’Brien, 35, worked for Wyden’s wife, Nancy Bass Wyden — owner of New York’s landmark Strand Bookstore — from June 2022 to September 2024. His duties often included supervising the couple’s children, including on school runs and family trips to Disneyworld.

According to court papers filed by O’Brien’s widower, Thomas Maltezos, the senator’s then-10-year-old daughter allegedly exposed herself and made sexually explicit comments to O’Brien, while the teenage son repeatedly hurled homophobic slurs and threats. On one occasion, Bass Wyden accidentally sprayed O’Brien with mace while trying to restrain her son.

Maltezos claims the abuse left his husband distraught. O’Brien quit in September 2024, but Bass Wyden soon after accused him of stealing $650,000, launched a private investigation, and spread damaging rumors. Authorities later dropped the theft case after O’Brien died by suicide on May 26, 2025.

The lawsuit calls the treatment “shocking, disturbing, and cruel.” Bass Wyden’s attorneys, however, blasted the suit as “baseless” and said O’Brien had a “documented pattern of theft.”

Wyden, 76, has represented Oregon in the Senate since 1996. He married Bass Wyden in 2005, and the couple share three children.

Maltezos, who announced his husband’s death in a heartbreaking post, said O’Brien was known for his “quiet grace and unwavering loyalty.”