Seth Rich’s parents sue Fox News over ‘sham story’ that promoted ‘conspiracy theory’

Fox News retracted story linking murdered Democratic National Committee Staffer to WikiLeaks

The lawsuit alleges Fox News 'intentionally exploited' Seth Rich's death 'through lies, misrepresentations and half-truths' (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

The parents of a murdered Democratic National Committee staffer have sued Fox News over a retracted report claiming their son leaked documents to WikiLeaks before his death.

Saying Joel and Mary Rich had become “collateral damage in a political war to which they are innocent bystanders”, the lawsuit accuses Fox of running a “fiction” that sought to push a “conspiracy theory from the fringe to the front pages and screens of the mainstream media”

“They published, republished, and publicized the sham story—which they knew would be covered again and again, and republished, here and around the world—painting Joel and Mary’s son as a criminal and a traitor to the United States”, the complaint says.

Months after Seth Rich was killed in Washington, DC, Fox News ran a story saying that Mr Rich had leaked thousands of internal DNC emails to the anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks, whose steady drip of leaked emails shaped the 2016 presidential campaign. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had cryptically referenced Mr Rich's murder during the campaign.

Fox News ultimately pulled the story from its website, saying it failed to meet a “high degree of editorial scrutiny”. But in the days after the story’s publication, the claim that Mr Rich had collaborated with WikiLeaks was amplified by Fox contributors and hosts like Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich.

“Despite being completely false”, the lawsuit says, the story endured and was “quoted, referenced, and republished widely” even after Fox ran a correction.

“Fox continued to exploit the sham story because it was good for ratings”, the lawsuit says.

A spokeswoman for Fox News declined to comment on the litigation. She pointed the Independent to the network’s effort to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Rod Wheeler, a paid commentator and private investigator who looked into Seth Rich’s death, claiming Fox News had fabricated quotes from him in its story.

Along with Fox News and Malia Zimmerman, the reporter who pursued the story, the lawsuit names Ed Butowsky, a frequent Fox News guest and Trump supporter who reached out to the Riches and paid for Mr Wheeler to investigate their son’s death.

The lawsuit alleges that Mr Butowsky worked with Fox News to have Mr Wheeler “plausibly corroborate the sham story based on the fringe conspiracy theory”, reaching out to Fox News executives and exchanging drafts of the story with Ms Zimmerman.

In an interview with the Independent, Mr Butowsky called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “baseless”. He confirmed that he connected the Riches with Mr Wheeler and that he paid for the detective’s services but rejected the notion he had a hand in the piece Fox News ran.

“I didn’t write a story and I didn’t participate in writing it, so it’s very difficult for me to understand how I’m even involved”, Mr Butowsky said.

Ms Zimmerman could not be reached for comment.