Kevin O’Leary, Fox News hit with defamation suit over Utah data center

Kevin O’Leary and Fox News are now defendants in a defamation lawsuit tied to O’Leary’s proposed 40,000-acre Utah data center, after the Shark Tank investor spent weeks accusing local critics of being proxies for the Chinese Communist Party.

On Wednesday, two Utah-based political organizations and their founders brought a defamation lawsuit against O’Leary and Fox News, arguing his characterization of their alleged ties to the CCP had caused irreparable reputational harm.

What the lawsuit alleges

Gabi Finlayson, founder of Elevate Strategies, and Josh Kanter, founder of Alliance for a Better Utah, filed the suit in federal court, claiming O’Leary’s comments sparked online harassment and conspiracy theories that damaged their reputations and businesses.

According to the complaint, O’Leary made similar allegations across at least 10 Fox News appearances, telling viewers the pair were proxies for the Chinese government, and claimed his accusations were backed by evidence from an investigation conducted by data scientists.

The plaintiffs allege the comments caused devastating reputational harm, significant economic losses, severe emotional distress, and ongoing threats to their physical safety.

Fox News in the crosshairs

The lawsuit named the Fox News Network as a defendant, alleging it repeatedly invited O’Leary onto its programs and allowed him to broadcast his false accusations to millions of viewers without any qualification.

The network last month publicly apologized for O’Leary’s remarks and distanced itself from his comments, saying it was aware of no evidence the plaintiffs were funded by or coordinating with Chinese interests. Fox News said it publicly corrected the record on every program where the comments were made, and that it will vigorously defend against this lawsuit.

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The retraction that came too late

O’Leary corrected his claims last month, saying in a social media post that he had no evidence Kanter, Finlayson or their organizations were funded by China. The lawsuit alleges he only did so after receiving their legal demand for a retraction.

An attorney for O’Leary, Jeff Neiman, called the lawsuit a cash grab, and said the organizations had used O’Leary’s comments as a catalyst to raise funds.

Why traders should care

The fight is over the Stratos Project, a 40,000-acre AI data center site in Box Elder County. The plan received initial approval from Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority and a green light from the county commission, but generated intense public outcry and played a major part in unseating Utah Senate President Stuart Adams in the June Republican primary.

Political and legal friction around large-scale AI infrastructure is becoming a real variable for hyperscaler buildouts, siting timelines, and power procurement. Watch for similar pushback around other mega-site announcements.

Options market and stocks to watch

Data center and AI infrastructure names are the obvious tape to monitor as the Utah dispute plays out and other localities take note:

• FOX and FOXA: watch for headline risk as the litigation moves through discovery.
• NVDA: watch for any read-through on AI buildout timelines if permitting fights spread.
• VST and CEG: watch for sensitivity to data center power demand narratives.
• DLR: watch for reactions tied to data center siting and community opposition themes.

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