Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is suing Fox News over the right-wing network’s 2022 mock trial series “The Trial of Hunter Biden” under New York’s revenge porn law, according to a court filing on Monday.

Hunter Biden’s attorneys argued in the filing that Fox News and its parent company “targeted Mr. Biden in an effort to harass, annoy, alarm, and humiliate him, and tarnish his reputation” and used “non consensual intimate images” in violation of New York state law. 

Fox, which is headquartered in New York City, removed the series from its streaming platform in April after his attorneys threatened the suit.

“Defendants’ conduct was so egregious and done so clearly with malice and/or reckless indifference to Mr. Biden’s interests, wellbeing, and reputation that in addition to all the damages which Mr. Biden is entitled to, Defendants should also be required to pay punitive damages to punish them for their intentional conduct and to deter Fox and others similarly situated from engaging in such reprehensible conduct in the future,” Biden’s attorneys wrote.

In a statement, Fox News called the suit “politically motivated” and “devoid of merit.” They also argued that they removed the program “in an abundance of caution” in April and that Hunter Biden “is a public figure who has been the subject of multiple investigations and is now a convicted felon.”

Hunter Biden was convicted by a federal jury on three felony charges last month in Delaware for his illegal purchase and possession of a revolver in 2018 when he lied on paperwork claiming he was not illegally using drugs at the time. The president’s son, a businessman and artist, has discussed publicly his addiction to crack cocaine during the period in question. He has denied wrongdoing and is planning to appeal the conviction. He is also fighting federal tax charges in California, with a trial set for September.

President Joe Biden has stood by his son and defended him from attacks by Republicans and right-wing media, but his presidential campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.

"Consistent with the First Amendment, FOX News has accurately covered the newsworthy events of Mr. Biden's own making, and we look forward to vindicating our rights in court," a spokesperson for the network said.

But the younger Biden’s attorneys argued in the suit that the Fox News series’ use of explicit images of their client was not in furtherance of “legitimate public concern” nor “protected by the First Amendment,” countering arguments used often by news media organizations when defending their coverage of public figures. They cited Fox News’ streaming service Fox Nation’s description of itself on its website as a “entertainment streaming service” and admitted premise of “The Trial of Hunter Biden” as a “mock trial.”

The attorneys quoted TV judge Joe Brown, who presided over the series and said “This is a mock trial. It is not a real proceeding. To be clear, Hunter Biden has not been implicated in or charged in any crimes arising from his activities, alleged activities. Of course, this is not a real trial. It is a mock trial” in the show.

“In other words, the miniseries is fictionalized; it is not a news event. It was made for the purpose of trade and advertising, and merely exploits Mr. Biden’s name, image, and likeness for Fox’s commercial benefit,” Biden’s attorneys wrote. “While using certain true information, the series intentionally manipulates the facts, distorts the truth, narrates happenings out of context, and invents dialogue intended to entertain. Thus, the viewer of the series cannot decipher what is fact and what is fiction, which is highly damaging to Mr. Biden.”

Biden’s legal team also compared their case to that of Dominion Voting Systems, which received a $787.5 million settlement from Fox News last year after suing the network for defamation over lies made by on its airwaves about Dominion’s role in the 2020 election.

“This would not be the first time that Fox knowingly engaged in unlawful conduct,” Biden’s attorneys wrote. “For instance, in the recent Dominion Voting Systems (“Dominion”) lawsuit against Fox….internal text messages and emails produced during discovery revealed that the fact-checking and research division of the network… had clearly concluded that the claims that Dominion’s voting machines had been rigged to steal the 2020 presidential election were false but that Fox chose to air this misinformation anyway to retain viewers for financial reasons.”

“In an analogous situation here, Fox disregarded the known legal implications of unlawfully publishing and disseminating the Intimate Images in order to humiliate, harass, annoy, and alarm Mr. Biden, to tarnish his reputation, and for financial gain,” they continued. “In other words, like in the Dominion case, Fox knew its conduct was unlawful but it did it anyway.”

New York banned the dissemination and publication of explicit and intimate images without permission, known as “revenge porn,” in 2019. Censored images of a naked Biden and others were used in the series and have been shared widely since a laptop of his was given to right-wing media in 2020. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene displayed sexually explicit images of Biden during a congressional hearing in July 2023.