Taylor Knuth Sues Kevin O'Leary and Fox News for Defamation Over 'Chinese Agent' Claims

Taylor Knuth, the former executive director of Alliance for a Better Utah, sued "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary and Fox News Network LLC in federal court Wednesday, alleging they spent weeks presenting him on national television as a paid operative of the Chinese Communist Party working to block O'Leary's data center project in Box Elder County, Utah.

The 52-page complaint, filed Oct. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah as Knuth v. O'Leary, No. 1:26-cv-00203, brings claims for defamation and false light invasion of privacy and demands a jury trial. It asks for actual damages of no less than $300,000 on each claim, plus punitive damages, and an injunction forcing the defendants to remove or edit the clips still online. Bloomberg Law was the first outlet to report the filing.

A PRIVATE CITIZEN NAMED ON AIR

Knuth, of Ogden, a finalist in the city's 2023 mayoral race, left Alliance for a Better Utah on April 2, 2026, the complaint says, weeks before O'Leary Digital presented plans on April 22 for a 40,000-acre data center on the northern tip of the Great Salt Lake. His part in the fight that followed, according to the complaint, was "limited to voicing his opinion on the project through a few social media posts and personal communications."

On May 11, O'Leary appeared on Fox Business's "Mornings with Maria" wearing a "Utah National Security" hat and said: "We found two cells inside of Utah, Alliance for a Better Utah, Taylor Kn-uck [phonetic]—Kn-osh [phonetic] maybe—and [another individual]," adding, "So these are proxies for the Chinese government." The complaint says he named Knuth no fewer than four times in that segment and described him as part of a CCP "cell" in Utah.

Fox, the suit says, put O'Leary "on air five times in three weeks to accuse a private citizen of being a secret foreign agent" and "never once contacted Mr. Knuth, never asked O'Leary for his evidence." The complaint lists appearances on "Saturday in America" on May 16, "The Big Money Show" and "The Bottom Line" on May 20 and "The Big Weekend Show" on May 24, where O'Leary held up a chart he said traced money from China to Alliance for a Better Utah.

FOX'S ON-AIR CORRECTIONS

Fox later read corrections on each of those programs. On June 26, Maria Bartiromo told viewers that O'Leary "has now corrected the record and explained that he has no evidence that the Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, Josh Kanter, Taylor Knuth, or Gabrielle Finlayson are funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party," adding that "Fox News Media is likewise aware of no evidence" and "apologizes for the error." Similar statements followed on June 27, July 24 and July 28, according to the complaint.

Knuth's lawyers call the retractions "untimely" and say they "did essentially nothing to remedy the harms." The complaint alleges many of the original segments remain online with no notice of a correction, and that an O'Leary post on X from May 25 drew more than 2 million views before it was deleted, while his retraction post has drawn fewer than 573,000.

WHAT KNUTH SAYS IT COST HIM

Knuth has had no employment income since April 2, the complaint says, and his job leads dried up once the broadcasts aired. On May 20 he left his doctoral program, the suit says, because his adviser sat on the Alliance for a Better Utah board and the relationship was "damaged beyond repair." He says a possible 2027 run for Ogden mayor "evaporate[d] overnight" and that he has suffered sleeplessness, severe anxiety and online harassment.

Knuth answered on LinkedIn at the time: "I am still looking for work, by the way, as the CCP does NOT pay my bills."

A SECOND SUIT OVER THE SAME BROADCASTS

The case is separate from the suit filed in July by Joshua Kanter, the founder of Alliance for a Better Utah, and Gabrielle Finlayson of Elevate Strategies over the same "two cells" remarks. O'Leary and Fox asked the court in September to dismiss that case with prejudice, arguing the statements "do not rise to the level of defamation," the Standard-Examiner reported.

Knuth is represented by Ryan B. Bell and Taylor J. Smith of Massey Bean & Lewis in Salt Lake City. TDFP has asked Knuth's attorneys, Ryan B. Bell and Taylor J. Smith of Massey Bean & Lewis, for comment.

Sources: Complaint, Knuth v. O'Leary et al., No. 1:26-cv-00203-DBB (D. Utah, filed Oct. 14, 2026), via CourtListener; Bloomberg Law; Standard-Examiner.

Images: Cover photo of the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City by Ben P L via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). Fox News headquarters at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York by Coolcaesar via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).