December 13, 2025, New York, New York, USA: The New York Younger Republican Membership maintain their 113th Annual Gala at Cipriani’s on Wall St. in New York, NY on December 13, 2025. (Credit score Picture: © Laura Brett/ZUMA Press Wire)
The New York Younger Republicans Membership is taking an inner feud to court docket, suing its former press chair and accusing him of defamation after a really public falling-out tied to the group’s controversial vacation gala.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court docket in Manhattan, names Lucian Baxter Wintrich as the only defendant and seeks at the very least $2.5 million in damages, together with a court docket order requiring him to take away social media posts and chorus from making additional statements concerning the group.
Wintrich served because the membership’s press committee chairman from 2022 till December 2025, in keeping with the criticism, which alleges that Wintrich violated confidentiality and non-disparagement agreements he signed whereas serving in management and made false public accusations of monetary misconduct, thereby damaging the group’s fame and donor relationships.
As a part of his function inside the membership, the group claims he signed a number of agreements requiring him to take care of confidentiality, keep away from disparaging statements concerning the membership and its members, and act professionally in public-facing settings.
The dispute seems to have escalated across the membership’s annual gala, held on Dec. 13, in Manhattan. The occasion, which drew media consideration and controversy over its visitor listing, included the looks of white nationalist Jared Taylor in addition to Markus Frohnmaier, a lawmaker with Germany’s far-right Different for Germany (AfD) occasion, in keeping with Politico. The report additionally said that at the very least 19 different AfD members attended the occasion.
In accordance with the criticism, Wintrich grew to become indignant after membership management declined to ask sure media figures he had needed to attend. Throughout the occasion, the lawsuit alleges, he approached reporters and described the gala as “the worst event [the club] has ever thrown,” whereas additionally airing inner grievances.
Two days later, Politico printed a report quoting Wintrich’s criticisms of the gala. The membership states that the publicity precipitated embarrassment and reputational hurt, significantly for the reason that feedback originated from its personal press chair. On Dec. 17, the group eliminated Wintrich from his committee place.
What adopted, the lawsuit alleges, was a barrage of social media posts and public statements that crossed from inner criticism into defamation.
That very same day, Wintrich allegedly posted a secretly recorded video of a non-public Zoom assembly of membership members to his X account, which the lawsuit says had tens of hundreds of followers. The submit included derogatory feedback a few feminine member seen within the video. The criticism additionally cites posts through which Wintrich insulted the membership’s legal professional and mocked senior management utilizing slurs, calling one member an “albino ginger.”
Wintrich’s X submit of the Zoom assembly of membership members referenced within the lawsuit.
On Dec. 17, Wintrich shared on X that he had acquired a cease-and-desist letter from the membership’s Italian Caucus, stating that his actions for the reason that gala constituted a “clear breach” of his NDA. On Dec. 18, Wintrich posted, claiming the membership and its president have been making ready an announcement and a gag order, which he characterised as an try and silence him. He later posted once more, saying he was awaiting a lawsuit and a public assertion that the membership management had promised.
Probably the most severe allegations stem from a Dec. 29 look by Wintrich on the “Get Off My Lawn” podcast, hosted by Gavin McInnes, founding father of the Proud Boys. Throughout the present, Wintrich allegedly claimed he had been conducting an “internal audit” of the membership and instructed that management had siphoned donor funds by way of a fundraising firm he described as a “shell corporation.” New York News was not in a position to confirm these feedback.
He additional implied that a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} could have been embezzled and claimed, with out proof, in keeping with the lawsuit, that the New York Lawyer Common’s workplace was investigating the group. The membership flatly denies these claims. The NY AG’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for touch upon this declare on the time of publication.
Within the criticism, the New York Younger Republicans Membership states that no inner audit ever existed, that Wintrich was by no means tasked with reviewing the funds, and that the fundraising firm he referenced is a official vendor that has acquired little to no compensation. The swimsuit additionally states that no regulation enforcement company, together with the legal professional normal’s workplace, is investigating the membership.
“Simply put, Defendant’s published statements are a series of wholesale fabrications maliciously designed to malign and harm Plaintiff and its members, motivated by an apparent desire to take revenge on Plaintiff and falsely paint himself as a ‘whistleblower’ who was removed from the organization for uncovering criminal activity,” the lawsuit reads.
The membership argues that the podcast remarks quantity to defamation below New York regulation as a result of they accuse the group and its management of felony conduct. It additionally alleges that Wintrich breached his confidentiality and non-disparagement agreements by publishing inner supplies and publicly insulting members and officers.
Along with financial damages, the membership is requesting that the court docket completely enjoin Wintrich from making additional statements concerning the group, require him to take away present posts, and award attorneys’ charges.
New York News reached out to Wintrich for remark, however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publication.
