Aaron Rich, the brother of the Democratic National Committee staffer who was killed in 2016, filed a lawsuit on Monday against right-wing activists, individuals, and conservative media companies that he believes all had a hand in peddling an unfounded conspiracy theory surrounding the unsolved murder of his brother.
Aaron Rich filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on Monday. The suit claims that Ed Butowsky, a Texas businessman; Matt Couch, host of America First Media; America First Media, and The Washington Times pushed a conspiracy theory about Aaron Rich that used his past work as a defense contractor to allege he worked alongside his brother to leak DNC documents to Wikileaks, then played a part in his murder to cover his wrongdoing.
“Defendants have falsely accused Aaron of stealing documents, receiving a payout from WikiLeaks into his personal bank account, obstruction of justice, and being an accessory to his own brother’s murder,” Michael Gottlieb, attorney for Aaron Rich said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Aaron’s brother, Seth Rich, was shot and killed in Washington, D.C., in July 2016.
The murder is still unsolved, but police have indicated that the incident appears to be a robbery gone wrong. However, conservative Internet voices and media outlets peddled a conspiracy theory that Seth Rich was killed because he leaked DNC emails to Wikileaks.
