Personal assistant made multiple ‘thefts’ worth over $600K before his suicide: ex-Strand Bookstore owner claims

The gay personal assistant allegedly tormented and driven to suicide by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden’s family stole money, jewelry, clothes, books and a pricey Disney pass from his boss — Wyden’s wife, Strand bookstore owner Nancy Bass Wyden.

Bass Wyden, 64, detailed $655,000 in alleged thefts by the former assistant, Branden O’Brien, in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit against O’Brien’s husband, Thomas Maltezos.

O’Brien splurged on $1,200 Christian Dior sneakers and other luxe labels from Saks; shelled out nearly $1,700 on the Disney Incredi-pass; and stole an emerald pendant which belonged to Bass Wyden’s mother, according to court papers.

He even pilfered 37 books from The Strand, including Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” and Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Lost World,” all in hardcover from The Folio Society and worth nearly $9,000, she said in the legal filing.

O’Brien and Maltezos sold the items on Poshmark, she contended.

The assistant even used Bass Wyden’s Amazon Points to send himself more than $42,000 in gift cards, she alleged.

O’Brien, who quit in September 2024, was under investigation by the NYPD but the probe was dropped when he killed himself in May at age 35.

Maltezos has denied the theft allegations.And in his own legal filing accused Bass Wyden of allowing her young children to taunt O’Brien with homophobic and sexually explicit remarks and ruining his rep so he couldn’t find another job.

Bass Wyden and her children spend most of their time in New York, while the Oregon senator — a frequent critic of President Trump — splits his time between the Beaver State, Washington DC and the Big Apple.

“The claims filed against me 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,” Bass Wyden said in a statement.

She accused Maltezos of playing “a complicit role” in the thefts.

The lawsuit is “a blatant act of retaliation against Thomas for refusing to withdraw his wrongful death and employment discrimination claims on behalf of his late husband, Brandon,” Maltezos’ attorneys, Reyna Lubin and Eric Baum, said in a statement.

“Rather than taking responsibility for the documented homophobic slurs and the horrific treatment Brandon endured, as outlined in Thomas’s complaint, she has chosen instead to attack those seeking justice.”