Former FTC Commissioner Sues Former Students for Defamation Over Sexual Harassment Claims

Joshua Wright, a former commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission and law professor at George Mason University, sued two of his former students last week for $108 million, claiming they defamed him in an article that included allegations that he sexually harassed them, according to court records.

The article was originally published by the website Law 360 article on Aug. 14. Subsequent stories have come out, including one by Bloomberg reporting that at least eight former students, job applicants and staff who worked with Wright over the past 20 years claimed they were subject to sexual and flirtatious advances from him.

Five of the women agreed to be named in the story. Three women reported that they had sexual relationships with him. "He was so good at making you think you need his connections to make it," one of the former students, Elise Nelson, told Bloomberg.

Wright hit back last Thursday against Nelson and Angela Dorsey, both former students of his, claiming in a lawsuit that they were "scorned former lowers," who launched a "vendetta to destroy his reputation, portray themselves as #metoo victims, and make a fortune in the process."

In his lawsuit, Wright claimed that Dorsey "embarked on a pre-meditated plan to ruin" his life after he broke up with her over text message and filed what he called a "false" Title IX complaint with George Mason University.

The former FTC commissioner also claimed that the two women "threatened reputational destruction if he did not pay them several million dollars."

Wright said that he lost $600,000 in revenue from a client after the defendants "falsely" told the client that Wright was banned from the American Bar Association and had sexually harassed students.

After the students came forward in the Law 360 story, Wright lost around $1.5 million a year in private consulting clients, he claimed in the complaint, adding that the sexual harassment allegations were "straight out of a bad movie."

None of the parties involved in the lawsuit immediately responded to The Messenger's request for comment.