A Dallas oil billionaire and the top donor to Gov. Greg Abbott's reelection campaign has filed a defamation lawsuit against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke.
Kelcy Warren alleges in court documents that O'Rourke criticized the windfall profits his company, Energy Transfer, made after Winter Storm Uri last year, The Texas Tribune reported.
Warren's suit was filed last month in a state district court in San Saba County.
Aside from defamation, the complaint accuses O'Rourke, a former U.S. Congressman, of slander and libel.
Warren seeks more than $1 million in damages for what he claims is a “relentless and malicious attack” on him, The Texas Tribune reported.
“O’Rourke has repeatedly stated, with no basis in fact whatsoever, that Warren ‘broke the law’ and committed felonies – extortion, bribery and corruption – when he purportedly ‘bought off’ Gov. Abbott ‘not to fix’ the power grid in Texas so that Energy Transfer supposedly could make money in the event the grid failed,” Warren's legal counsel asserted in the original petition.
Winter Storm Uri blanketed Texas with ice and snow from Feb. 13-27, 2021.
The rare weather event strained the state's power grid to where millions were left without electricity for as much as a week.
The storm claimed at least 100 lives and inflicted up to $180 billion worth of damage.
According to Abbott's campaign, it's distancing itself from the litigation, The Texas Tribune reported.
An unidentified spokesperson said the campaign “is in no way involved.”
The Texas Tribune reported that O'Rourke dismissed the lawsuit as "frivolous."
O'Rourke secured the Democratic nomination for November's gubernatorial election earlier this month, becoming the latest challenger to Abbott's quest for another term since Lupe Valdez in 2018.
Bloomberg reported that campaign finance tracker TransparencyUSA's records show Warren, who has a net worth of $4.5 billion, wrote a $1 million check to the governor's reelection campaign.
It additionally reported that Energy Transfer earned $2.4 billion when Texas power regulators boosted energy prices to $9,000 per megawatt hour during the height of the storm.
"Mr. O’Rourke’s statements are flat-out false, and they appear to have been made for political gain in a desperate attempt to overcome what appears to be a weakening campaign to unseat Gov. Abbott," Energy Transfer spokesperson Vicki Granado said, according to The Texas Tribune.