The former CEO and current executive chairman of Energy Transfer, billionaire Kelcy Warren, has filed a lawsuit against Democratic candidate for Texas Governor Beto O’Rourke, alleging slander and defamation.
Warren filed the lawsuit on February 18 in the West Central Texas of San Saba, and is seeking over $1 million in compensation.
According to the lawsuit, O’Rourke began a malicious and relentless attack on Warren, accusing him of bribery, extortion, and corrupt influence after Warren contributed to the June 2021 election campaign for Texas Governor Greg Abbott. O’Rourke is incumbent Gov. Abbott’s opponent in the current gubernatorial race.
Warren alleges that O’Rourke attacked him because he is the former CEO of Energy Transfer.
The lawsuit also claims that O’Rourke used Warren’s $1 million donation to Abbott’s campaign as an opportunity to falsely accuse him of bribery.
Warren points to several social media posts made by O’Rourke, in which the Democratic candidate said Abbott had refused to fix Texas’ power grid because of an alleged influence that Warren and others in the oil and gas industry were able to exercise over the Governor.
The lawsuit cited one of O’Rourke’s Twitter posts, which read, “Gas company Energy Transfer Partners says: ‘give us $22M, or we cut the power for Texans.’ That’s extortion; Abbott isn’t stopping them because their CEO bought him off with a $1M check. That’s corrupt….”
During a news conference on March 7, O’Rourke labeled Warren’s suit as senseless. The Democratic candidate revealed that Warren had sent him a cease-and-desist letter asking him to stop making the statements.
“He’s trying to shut us down in the courts through a frivolous lawsuit. And I wanted to make sure you heard that here directly from me here first,” O’Rourke said.