Peter Attia, the embattled longevity expert ousted as a contributor to CBS News over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, is facing yet another professional hurdle—this time from a health technology company known for its “Oura Ring.”
Oura Health Ltd., which manufactures the wildly popular smart ring used to track sleep and physical activity, dragged Attia into court on Friday after filing a counterclaim to his lawsuit against the company.
Attia, 52, is one of several prominent figures suing Oura, alleging that the company offered them stock options in exchange for promoting the product—then went back on its word.
Now, the company appears to be using the fact that Attia was named more than 1,700 times in the DOJ’s tranche of files related to Epstein to its advantage.
On Thursday, Oura filed a counterclaim against the health influencer, claiming he “fraudulently concealed a deep, multi-year personal relationship with Epstein while publicly holding himself out as a trusted health authority and representative of the company.”
“The recent revelations regarding Peter Attia’s longstanding relationship with Jeffrey Epstein are deeply disturbing and were entirely unknown to us,” a spokesperson for Oura told the Daily Beast. “Epstein’s crimes caused devastating harm to women and girls, and anyone who maintained a relationship with him, especially after those crimes became public, has serious questions to answer.”
The spokesperson went on to address the company’s ongoing litigation with Attia, which has previously raised concerns in the health community about the wellness guru altering his messaging for profit.
“Over the years, Attia has sought to extract unearned compensation tied to Oura’s success, while concealing conduct that is fundamentally inconsistent with our values as a brand that champions women’s health and wellness,” the Oura spokesperson said. “We will act decisively to uphold our values and commitment to the women we serve.”
Oura rings have exploded in popularity in recent years and have been spotted on the fingers of household names such as Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston, and Prince Harry.
Attia, who could not be reached for comment, has been ousted from several roles after it was revealed that he regularly communicated with Epstein until spring 2019, just before the notorious pedophile was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges.
“What Attia omits from his story is Epstein’s profound role in it,” the counterclaim, filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, reads.
“In 2015, Epstein’s ex-girlfriend introduced Attia and Epstein to one another because she thought they ‘would enjoy meeting each other.’ She was right. Attia started to help Epstein as [a] physician and nutritionist, and in exchange Epstein gave Attia career advice, emotional support, and a partner in degrading women.”
Last month, Attia resigned as a contributor to CBS News weeks after he was handpicked by anti-woke warrior editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who reportedly fought to keep him on as a health expert despite an apparently playful relationship between Epstein and Attia, with the longevity influencer making grotesque sexual remarks in emails that were made public by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
In June 2015, Attia lamented how the “biggest problem” of being Epstein’s friend is that “the life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul.”
In 2016, Attia wrote to Epstein, “P---y is, indeed, low carb. Still awaiting results on gluten content, though.”
Another email thread revealed that when Attia’s infant son was hospitalized in the ICU in 2017, he ignored his wife’s pleas to fly home from New York to San Diego, and instead made plans the next day to meet with Epstein.
The health influencer, who has been called a “wellness grifter” and likened to a snake-oil salesman, has made millions through sponsorships with several wellness companies—several of which have backed away following the revelations of Attia’s close relationship to Epstein.
Attia notably left his post as a major investor at David Protein, a high-profile protein bar company that is currently under legal fire for its misleading nutrition label.
Oura isn’t the only business using the Epstein files as a path to victory in court. Last month, Papa Johns founder John Schnatter used entertainment executive Casey Wasserman’s appearance in the files as a way to force him to sit for a second deposition in an ongoing legal dispute.
Schnatter sued LA28 head Wasserman and his creative agency, Laundry Service, in 2019, alleging Wasserman leaked recordings of the pizza mogul using the N-word, according to Deadline. Schnatter claims the leak was retaliation for his attempts to fire the agency.
“This new information has raised serious questions about Mr. Wasserman’s prior testimony as a witness in Mr. Schnatter’s lawsuit against Laundry Service,” Schnatter spokesperson Mark Serrano told Deadline last month.
While the Epstein documents have proved beneficial for some corporations, the same can’t be said for actual victims of the disgraced financier.
The Justice Department missed its December deadline to make millions of Epstein files public. What’s more, some of those released initially failed to redact victims’ names in some instances and withheld the names of associates of the late sex offender, including, reportedly, Donald Trump.
