Nancy Bass Wyden, wife of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and owner of legendary Manhattan bookstore The Strand, claims her late assistant, who died by suicide last spring, embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from her, allegedly stealing not just money but also rare books, family heirlooms, and countless pieces of designer clothing that wound up for sale on Poshmark.
Beyond hocking her personal property online – a pair of Dior sneakers for $800, in one example – Brandon O’Brien, 35, used Bass Wyden’s credit cards to finance a high-flying lifestyle for himself and his husband, buying everything from gym memberships to an annual Disney Incredi-Pass, the “highest tier of the Walt Disney World Passes,” according to an explosive new lawsuit obtained by The Independent.
In it, Bass Wyden describes a breathtaking array of criminal acts, even accusing O’Brien of stealing her Amazon rewards points, as well as a “coveted emerald pendant” that had belonged to her late mother. When the piece mysteriously disappeared from Bass Wyden’s residence in New York City, she initially believed she had lost it, her complaint states.
However, it goes on, Bass Wyden “eventually discovered the emerald pendant in O’Brien’s office among his personal… affairs.”
“The thievery commenced in or about August 2022,” the complaint alleges. “Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden had no knowledge of this thievery when it occurred.”
Bass Wyden reported O’Brien to police, who dropped the case after his suicide, according to the complaint.
Wyden’s suit, which was filed Friday morning in New York State Supreme Court, comes roughly three weeks after O’Brien’s husband, Thomas Maltezos, sued Bass Wyden over allegations her two young children drove O’Brien to suicide by subjecting him to relentless “homophobic slurs and comments.”
Maltezos, who is in the process of being named the executor of O’Brien’s estate, claimed in his suit that Bass Wyden’s 10-year-old daughter engaged in “highly inappropriate sexual behavior directed at Mr. O’Brien,” such as “exposing herself, making sexually explicit comments, and inquiring into Mr. O’Brien’s intimate life.”
Maltezos also accused Bass Wyden’s teenage son of calling O’Brien a “f****t,” a “homo,” and a “zest kitten,” according to his complaint. In one instance, Maltezos claims the boy became so physically aggressive and violent toward O’Brien that Bass Wyden “maced her son to restrain him but inadvertently maced Mr. O’Brien.”
Yet, Bass Wyden “took no corrective action,” according to Maltezos.
Attorney Reyna Lubin, who is representing Maltezos, told The Independent that Bass Wyden’s lawsuit is “baseless,” contending it was brought “as retaliation for our client’s refusal to drop his wrongful death claims and his late husband’s employment discrimination claims.”
“It is shocking that a U.S. senator’s wife would try to use her power to bring down a family already suffering from the loss of suicide,” Lubin said on Friday. “Instead of addressing the documented homophobic slurs directed at Brandon O’Brien, Ms. [Bass] Wyden… (has) chosen to pursue these false allegations. Nearly a year after their NYPD report, Mr. O’Brien was never even questioned – much less arrested. This is a calculated attempt to destroy Mr. O’Brien’s character because he stood up against discrimination, and we will vigorously defend this family against further harm.”
In an email, Bass Wyden told The Independent that she is “seeking accountability for the egregious misconduct directed at me and my family” by O’Brien and Maltezos. She said the claims in the wrongful death suit filed against her by Maltezos are “not only baseless but calculated to divert attention from O’Brien’s systematic theft and manipulation of both me and our impressionable children, who were only 14 and 9 years old when O’Brien began working for me.”
“Even more disturbing is what we now know to have been a deliberate effort by O’Brien to ingratiate himself with the children over time, gaining their trust in order to twist isolated interactions and steal from me and my family,” Bass Wyden said.
Maltezos “played a complicit role” in the alleged scheme, aiding and abetting O’Brien, according to Bass Wyden, who said his “current efforts to deflect from the theft do not lessen the deplorable nature of his actions.” She also emphasized “the critical importance of mental health support in our society,” in light of O’Brien’s death, claiming he struggled with “longstanding mental illness.”
In June 2022, Bass Wyden hired O’Brien to be her personal assistant, according to her complaint. It describes her as “the third-generation owner of the near century old New York City icon, Strand Book Store, which is the largest independent bookstore in New York City and home to many rare books.” Bass Wyden worked out of an office several floors above the shop on lower Broadway, and installed O’Brien in an office close to hers, the complaint says.
“Over the course of two years and four months, O’Brien managed various aspects of Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden’s personal, family, and business life,” according to the complaint, which lists O’Brien’s duties as having included “picking up dry cleaning, scheduling, grocery shopping on Amazon Prime, general Amazon shopping, providing financial information to relevant persons, child-care, caring for Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden’s nonagenarian aunt, social media, and party planning (including for The Strand).”
Accordingly, Bass Wyden gave O’Brien access to her personal credit card, personal email, Amazon Prime account, and her Manhattan home, the complaint continues.
O’Brien “succeeded in ingratiating himself with both Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden and her children, evidenced by the Wyden’s inclusion of not just O’Brien on family trips, holidays, and celebrations, but also O’Brien’s spouse, Defendant Maltezos, and Defendant Maltezos’ mother,” according to the complaint.
Although O’Brien “appear[ed] trustworthy,” Bass Wyden says in her complaint that he instead “used his position to steal systematically” from her.
The first step in the alleged scheme occurred when O’Brien “encouraged” Bass Wyden to let him purchase a signature stamp that he could use to sign business checks on her behalf, according to the complaint.
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In the period that followed, O’Brien wrote more than 100 checks to himself from Bass Wyden’s personal Fidelity brokerage account, signing them with the signature stamp, the complaint alleges.
It says the proceeds, totalling nearly $600,000, were deposited in a bank account in O’Brien’s name, and claims O’Brien concealed the ongoing theft from Bass Wyden by deleting emails from Fidelity notifying her of the expenditures.
As her trusted helper, O’Brien had the code to open the front door at Bass Wyden’s apartment, the complaint states. Still, it says, she didn’t suspect him when things started to disappear.
“Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden sent for dry cleaning a gown and a blouse skirt set with a coveted emerald pendant (it belonged to her late mother) attached to the set,” according to the complaint. “Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden initially believed she lost the gown, blouse, and pendant. Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden eventually discovered the emerald pendant in O’Brien’s office among his personal office affairs.”
Other personal items that went missing from Bass Wyden’s residence included jewelry, shoes, designer clothing, and “a new sealed Monopoly Star Wars game,” worth more than $14,000 in total, the complaint states. All of it ended up on Poshmark, listed on an account run by O’Brien and Maltezos, according to the complaint, which includes screenshots of the listings.
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To confirm her suspicions, one of Bass Wyden’s associates used an assumed name to purchase an item from the Poshmark account allegedly run by O’Brien and Maltezos, which was mailed from their Manhattan address, the complaint states.
From there, the pilferage escalated, the complaint says. In October 2022, Bass Wyden’s Saks 5th Avenue credit card expired and a new one was mailed to her. The complaint accuses O’Brien of stealing the card while picking up Bass Wyden’s mail, linking it to Bass Wyden’s Fidelity account and enabling autopay, then spending more than $35,000 on “men’s designer luxury clothing items” that were then put up for sale on Poshmark.
“On or about October 4, 2024, Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden learned of these purchases when she received an e-mail from Saks notifying her that she had amassed points for shopping,” the complaint states. “At that time, Plaintiff Nancy Bass Wyden did not know she had a new Saks card.”
The thefts went on, unabated, according to the complaint. A collection of rare books The Strand had acquired from an estate “disappeared before they could be inventoried,” then showed up for sale on Poshmark, along with a pricey Strand-branded Bottega Veneta bookmark, the complaint alleges.
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“Of the 37 books taken by O’Brien and listed on… Maltezos and O’Brien’s Poshmark account, 20 had been sold, 3 had been removed, and 14 were still actively listed for sale,” according to the complaint.
It says O’Brien used Bass Wyden’s Amazon account to pick up nearly $1,000 worth of merchandise, which he mailed to himself on the Disney World vacation he allegedly took with her money. Bass Wyden also claims O’Brien used her Amazon points to send himself gift cards each week, from Amazon, hotels.com, Nordstrom, and Uber Eats, for a total of $42,034.40.
The cards were sent to an email address associated with an account O’Brien maintained on a site called RentMasseur.com, according to the complaint.
There were unauthorized purchases on a Visa card linked to Bass Wyden’s Fidelity account, which the complaint says O’Brien made on a Disney World Incredi-Pass, for $1,648.62. 91, a monthly membership at the YMCA, for $1,428, and various expenditures on an Apple Music account O’Brien allegedly set up with another credit card that Bass Wyden gave him to buy her daughter a new cell phone.
Those charges went on until December 18, 2024, some 2.5 months after O’Brien resigned – which is when Bass Wyden went to the cops.
“After O’Brien quit… Bass Wyden found thirty Folio books from the aforesaid estate sale that O’Brien had hidden in his office in filing cabinets or Dior boxes,” the complaint alleges.
The complaint says the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office became involved in the investigation, but that it was closed when O’Brien took his own life on May 24, 2025.
Two weeks prior, O’Brien and Maltezos held a yard sale at Maltezos’s mother’s Pennsylvania home, where they sold more of Bass Wyden’s belongings, according to the complaint.
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Bass Wyden’s complaint says Maltezos “had actual knowledge of O’Brien’s fraud and provided substantial assistance by receiving and assisting O’Brien to monetize the stolen property.” To that end, it contends, Maltezos must “be divested of the benefits of his wrongdoing.”
Bass Wyden is seeking compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but “not less than $655,000, plus pre-judgment interest,” as well as punitive damages “in an amount sufficient to punish Defendant Maltezos and deter similar conduct,” restitution and disgorgement of “all ill-gotten gains,” and attorneys’ fees and court costs.
“Our children remain my top priority, and I will continue to vigorously defend myself in court, confident that the truth and facts will prevail,” Bass Wyden told The Independent.
Maltezos, who raised more than $7,500 on GoFundMe following O’Brien’s suicide, now has roughly three weeks to file a formal response to Bass Wyden’s allegations.
