Hunter Biden sues Fox anew over nude footage used in miniseries

MANHATTAN (CN) — Hunter Biden on Tuesday refiled his revenge porn lawsuit against Fox News for airing a miniseries that depicted fictitious criminal charges against the president’s son.

According to ABC News, Hunter Biden dropped his initial Manhattan state court lawsuit to refile claims against new defendants, namely Jason Klarman, now-chief digital and marketing officer at Fox News, and Viet Dinh, former chief legal and policy officer at Fox Corporation.

In the new 18-page lawsuit, Hunter Biden accuses the right-wing news network of producing a fictitious mock trial miniseries called “The Trial of Hunter Biden” to intentionally humiliate, harass and annoy him while tarnishing his reputation.

“Far from reporting on a newsworthy event, Fox sought to commercialize Mr. Biden’s personality through a form of treatment distinct from the dissemination of news or information,” Hunter Biden says in the lawsuit.

The program, which aired on Fox Nation on Oct. 21, 2022, presents a fictional trial in which Hunter Biden is accused of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and committing bribery.

“The miniseries is fictionalized; it is not a news event,” Hunter Biden adds in the suit. “It was made for the purpose of trade and advertising and merely exploits Mr. Biden’s name, image and likeness for Fox’s commercial benefit.”

Hunter Biden also claims the series broke New York’s anti-revenge porn laws by featuring intimate still images and video of the president’s son in the nude and engaging in sex acts.

When these same images were posted on X by Chinese pro-Trump businessman Guo Wengui — who was convicted on fraud and racketeering charges in July — the social media platform removed the images after finding they violated its revenge porn policies.

“In publishing and disseminating the intimate images, defendants knew that these private and confidential images were hacked, stolen and/or manipulated digital material which were intended to remain private and confidential, but which had been unlawfully procured and disseminated without Mr. Biden’s consent,” Hunter Biden wrote.

Hunter Biden also says that despite agreeing to remove the miniseries from Fox Nation’s streaming platform, the news network kept up promotional reels and clips of the mock trial series on its website. The show is still available on certain third-party streaming platforms, he adds.

“Clips of ‘The Trial of Hunter Biden’ containing the intimate images of Mr. Biden also remain accessible online and in the public domain,” Biden adds.

A spokesperson for Fox News told Courthouse News that Hunter Biden’s most recent lawsuit is “once again devoid of any merit.”

“Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered the newsworthy events of Mr. Biden’s own making and we look forward to vindicating our rights in court,” Caley Cronin, a spokesperson for Fox, said in a statement.

President Joe Biden’s second son, Hunter Biden stood for criminal charges earlier this year, which differed from what Fox fictionalized in its miniseries. He was convicted in June by a 12-person Delaware jury of lying about his drug use on federal forms while he purchased a Colt Cobra .38 special revolver in 2018.

He is represented by Tina Glandian, a partner at the California-based Geragos & Geragos, who also represented actor Jussie Smollett.

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