A lawsuit against the company of the wife of Oregon Senator Ron Wyden’s wife, Greek-American Thomas Maltezos, claims that it was his children’s homophobic comments that prompted his 35-year-old husband, Brandon O’Brien, to end his life on May 26.

Maltezos announced the death of his husband with a touching message on social media: ‘It is with a broken heart that I announce that my beloved husband … has died by suicide. Brandon worked as an executive assistant and made every venue better with his quiet grace and unwavering faith. Without him, my heart is completely broken.”

O’Brien, as described in the lawsuit, worked as an aide to the senator’s wife, Nancy Bass Wyden, and “frequently took care” of the couple’s young children, including taking them to school in New York City and supervising them during trips to Disney World.

According to the lawsuit, the “torture” for the 35-year-old began in September 2022 when the couple’s then 10-year-old daughter allegedly made sexual comments to O’Brien, asking him about his “personal life” while he was taking her to school. Meanwhile, her teenage brother allegedly made homophobic comments against the 35-year-old, calling him a “faggot” and telling him, “My football team will rape you.”

In another incident, the youth appears to have thrown objects at the 35-year-old with his mother, “using pepper spray to restrain him, but accidentally threw the spray at O’Brien.”

Maltezos, in his lawsuit, alleges that the mother of the two children, who owns the famed Strand Bookstore in Manhattan, did nothing to address this conduct between June 2022 and September 2024, in which O’Brien worked as her assistant. According to the lawsuit, some of the alleged incidents of abuse took place at Disneyland in front of Maltezos and his mother.

For their part, attorneys for Bass Wyden have called for Maltezos’ lawsuit to be dismissed, saying it is “baseless, false, and full of false accusations.”

The Oregon senator’s wife’s side also claims O’Brien was stealing from his employer. The day after the 35-year-old resigned, on September 30, 2024, a report was filed with the New York City Police Department for stealing $650,000 in credit cards and other thefts.

After O’Brien committed suicide, authorities dropped the theft case, with Maltezos’s lawyers insisting that the charge against him was false.

“The allegations against the senator’s wife are shocking and cruel – no one should be subjected to this level of harassment, let alone in the workplace,” Maltese’s lawyers said in a statement.