Olivia Nuzzi has escalated her claims against her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza, filing a complaint with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that accused him of hacking her devices, threatening her with violence, and sabotaging her career as her relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went public.
Nuzzi first unveiled her claims against Politico's Lizza on Tuesday in a filing in Washington, D.C.’s Superior Court. She accused Lizza of threatening to publicize “personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation—a threat he has since carried out,” according to CNN.
Those claims, Nuzzi told The New York Times on Tuesday, were elevated to the FBI last week. The FBI declined to comment, saying it doesn’t comment on public complaints, though it typically limits its investigations to federal crimes—including hacking.
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“I will not comment on an active criminal investigation,” Nuzzi said in a statement to the Daily Beast Wednesday.
The claims came nearly two weeks after media reporter Oliver Darcy revealed Nuzzi’s relationship with the former independent presidential candidate. Nuzzi has since apologized for the relationship, and Kennedy has denied it ever happened. She has since been placed on leave as a third party—law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, according to Business Insider—conducts a review of her reporting.
The New York magazine writer claimed in the D.C. filing that Lizza acted on his vendetta after she rejected his attempts at mending their relationship.
Lizza, she claimed, stole one of her devices, hacked into it, and then began anonymously shopping information to other outlets. Lizza, she alleged, may have fed to New York—through an intermediary—the news that she and Kennedy had a relationship.
She also alleged Lizza threatened her with violence to assume the financial cost of their failed joint book deal. She filed for a protective order against Lizza, which a D.C. court granted. The next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 15.
Lizza vehemently denied the accusations in a statement on Tuesday. “I am saddened that my ex-fiancé would resort to making a series of false accusations against me as a way to divert attention from her own personal and professional failings,” he told the Daily Beast. “I emphatically deny these allegations and I will defend myself against them vigorously and successfully.”
Lizza has since taken a leave of absence from Politico as the publication launches its own investigation into him.
A spokesperson told the Daily Beast the two “have mutually agreed that it is in everyone’s best interest for him to step back and take a leave of absence while an investigation is conducted.”
