Key facts
- Emily Moreno, ex-wife of Rep. Max Miller, sued him and his lawyer for sharing an image of their daughter.
- The lawsuit alleges the image was uploaded to a public Dropbox folder as part of a custody battle.
- Moreno claims Miller "recklessly published and disclosed to the world a nude image" of their daughter.
- Miller denies domestic abuse allegations, including holding a gun to Moreno's head and breaking their daughter's collarbone.
- The suit seeks $150,000 in damages for each instance the image was accessed, transferred, distributed, published, or downloaded.
Emily Moreno, the ex-wife of Republican Congressman Max Miller, has filed a lawsuit against Miller and his lawyer, Aaron Minc, alleging they uploaded a nude image of their infant daughter to a publicly accessible Dropbox folder as part of their ongoing custody battle.
The complaint asserts that Miller "recklessly published and disclosed to the world a nude image" of their daughter. These photos were part of evidence compiled by Miller's legal team in response to domestic abuse allegations leveled against the lawmaker, which he denies. The allegations include claims of holding a gun to Moreno's head, pouring boiling water on her, and actions that led to their two-year-old daughter's collarbone being broken.
Miller, who is currently seeking re-election in Ohio, has faced significant pressure to resign from within his own party and from his father-in-law, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno. However, Donald Trump has reportedly offered support to the congressman, and there are indications that the White House intervened to prevent efforts to remove Miller from the November midterm election ballot.
The lawsuit contends that Miller, in his "desperate" attempt to "salvage his political job," "recklessly and intentionally" provided his lawyer with a "trove of documents and photos, indifferent about what they contained or how they were used." Miller reportedly shared the link to the files online after a social media appearance on August 2, during which he refuted the allegations. Moreno's lawyers noted that "more than 400,000 people saw or interacted with" Miller's posts that included the Dropbox folder.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the lawsuit seeks $150,000 in damages for each instance the image of the daughter was accessed, transferred, distributed, published, or downloaded. At the time of the initial release of unredacted files, Aaron Minc had accepted sole responsibility for inadvertently including the image.
Miller's Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter, has increased his attacks on the congressman, stating, "No one credibly accused of holding a gun to his wife’s head and breaking their two-year-old daughter’s collarbone belongs in the halls of power." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has also added Poindexter to its "Red to Blue" program, signaling a focus on flipping Miller's district.