Ex-fiancé of Rep. Nancy Mace files lawsuit claiming she falsely accused him of rape in plot concocted with friend’s estranged wife

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace’s ex-fiancé filed a retaliatory lawsuit against her on Thursday, claiming that she inaccurately portrayed him as a sexual predator as part of a larger scheme she concocted with a friend’s estranged wife.

Businessman Patrick Bryant filed the lawsuit in the Palmetto State’s Charleston County on Thursday.

In it, he accuses Mace of organizing an elaborate ploy to take him and Eric Bowman, a mutual acquaintance, down through a fabricated assault story the congresswoman explosively revealed in a speech on the House floor in February.

Mace delivered the impassioned speech in February where she outed four men she accused of drugging, molesting and filming multiple female victims, including herself.

Bryant, her ex-flame, was among the men she accused. The pair broke up in November 2023 during what he described as a period of heightened paranoia that pushed Mace to hack his phone and place a tracker in his car, according to the complaint obtained by WCSC.

Bryant claimed he found Mace sifting through his phone and accused her of installing a secret app to pilfer pictures and other data without his knowledge.

While the dispute was ongoing, he alleged Mace and Bowman’s estranged wife cooked up an elaborate ploy to convince an unnamed Jane Doe — who previously worked for the businessman — that they found a video of the employee being “gang raped” on his phone.

From there, the congrsswoman allegedly told the “impressionable” Doe that the video was taken at Bowman’s home and that he, Bryant, and John Osborne were all involved in the act, according to the complaint.

The victim insisted she had no idea what they were talking about and had no memory of the incident, but Mace kept pushing and said she had evidence, according to the lawsuit.

“What Mace did not tell Doe is that she concocted an entire false narrative of an assault, to blackmail Bryant, gain leverage in their separation proceedings, and try to ruin Bryant for her personal gain,” according to the lawsuit.

The Doe victim filed her own lawsuit against Bryant, Bowman and Osborne in May. In it, they are each being sued for battery, conspiracy and inflicting emotional distress, with the Doe claiming she was raped and photographed while incapacitated at Bowman’s home in October 2018.

Bryant insisted that he is “the only victim,” according to his complaint.

Mace, a mother of two, is wading into South Carolina’s 2026 Gubernatorial race while involved in multiple lawsuits that stemmed from her notorious House speech.

She quickly responded to the new lawsuit and brazenly highlighted that she “just got [Bryant] sanctioned in court” and that she and Doe are “still waiting on him to pay our legal fees.”

On Oct. 29, a court order determined that Bryant’s company and his lawyer violated South Carolina law by issuing subpoenas and deposing people without court approval in Doe’s case.

“It’s almost as if Patrick Bryant is asking to write me another check,” Mace said in the statement.

Mace added that she plans to “file a motion to dismiss and counter claim abuse of process, conspiracy, and you guessed it – more attorney fees.”

Bryant is suing for defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The four men Mace publicly accused were investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Department, but none were charged.

Brian Musgrave, the fourth man Mace accused during her speech, filed a lawsuit against the congresswoman in March and has largely been excluded from the ensuing litigation.