Kyrsten Sinema Is Being Sued Under NC's 'Homewrecker' Law

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is at the center of a North Carolina "homewrecker" lawsuit that accuses her of having an affair with a married member of her security detail and wrecking his 14-year marriage, USA Today reports. In a civil complaint seeking more than $25,000 in damages, Heather Ammel alleges that Sinema carried on a romantic relationship with her husband, Army veteran and former Sinema security guard Matthew Ammel, while the Arizona lawmaker was still in office. The filing says Ammel joined Sinema on high-end trips to Napa Valley, Saudi Arabia, and Las Vegas, where he allegedly drank Dom Pérignon with Sinema and Cindy McCain.

The suit claims Sinema sent him a towel-clad photo, engaged in sexually suggestive messaging, per the Hill, once asked him to bring the recreational drug MDMA along on a work trip so she could lead him through a psychedelic experience. Filed under North Carolina's "alienation of affection" statute—often dubbed a homewrecker law—the lawsuit portrays the Ammels' marriage, which began in 2010 and produced three children, as loving until Sinema's alleged involvement. The state is one of just a few that allows such lawsuits, the Guardian reports. Ammel began working on Sinema's security team in 2022, a job that ultimately paid him about $121,000 plus travel reimbursements, according to campaign records.

The Ammels separated in 2024 after a trip Ammel took with Sinema to Saudi Arabia, the lawsuit says. It also describes Ammel as a combat veteran dealing with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and substance abuse. The complaint ties the personal allegations to Sinema's public work, noting that she pushed Arizona lawmakers to allocate $5 million in state funds for clinical trials of ibogaine, a psychedelic drug in which her then-employer, Hogan Lovells, had once invested. Ammel appeared with Sinema at the state Legislature during that lobbying effort and later turned up alongside her at an Arizona State University security forum; ASU lists him as a fellow.

Sinema, who left the Senate in January 2025 after switching from Democrat to independent and declining to seek reelection, has since donated $3 million in leftover campaign cash to support research at ASU into artificial intelligence, an industry she now works in. She has not publicly commented on the lawsuit.