Country singer Alexis Wilkins has slapped former FBI agent–turned-podcaster Kyle Seraphin with a $5 million defamation lawsuit, accusing him of maliciously branding her an Israeli spy sent to seduce and compromise boyfriend, FBI Director Kash Patel, in a “honeypot” operation.
Wilkins, a Tennessee-based recording artist who also works with PragerU, filed the federal case in Texas this week after Seraphin told his sizable online audience that she was a “honeypot” and “former Mossad agent” working to manipulate Patel.
The 29-year-old singer, who has proudly billed herself as a patriotic, conservative Christian, says Seraphin’s wild claims are a knowing lie meant to boost his podcast clicks and pad his income from YouTube, Rumble and X.
“Defendant entirely fabricated the story to generate video engagement revenue,” the lawsuit charges, blasting Seraphin for smearing her as a traitor in front of hundreds of thousands of followers.
Seraphin, once a counterterrorism agent in the FBI’s Washington field office, now makes a living as a self-styled whistleblower with more than 217,000 followers on X.
On his Aug. 22 broadcast, he suggested Patel was being duped by a much younger girlfriend who was secretly an Israeli intelligence officer.
“He’s got a girlfriend that is half his age … and she’s also a former Mossad agent in what is like the equivalent of their NSA,” Seraphin declared, before sneering that Patel’s relationship was “totally just like love. That’s what real love looks like.”
Though he did not mention Wilkins by name, the suit says the reference was obvious.
Her romance with Patel began in January 2023 and has been public for nearly two years. She has posted photos of the two together, including after Patel was tapped by President Trump to head the FBI in February.
Wilkins says Seraphin knew exactly who she was. According to the complaint, the podcaster met her alongside Patel at a conservative event two years ago — long before Patel was nominated as FBI director.
The lawsuit notes that Wilkins is not Jewish, has never traveled to Israel and has never worked for any intelligence agency. The idea that she is an Israeli spy, her attorneys argue, is “vile and ridiculous.”
By invoking his FBI past, Seraphin’s words carried extra sting, Wilkins says. His show opens with a voiceover promising “no time for comforting lies.”
Viewers would reasonably interpret his comments as fact, not satire, the suit contends.
“A reasonable person would understand that Defendant’s statements are not mere hyperbole, particularly coming from a former FBI special agent in the Counterterrorism Division,” the filing argues.
The complaint says Seraphin published his comments “knowingly, intentionally, willfully, wantonly, and maliciously” — entitling Wilkins to punitive damages.
She also accuses him of injecting racial animus into his commentary.
In the same Aug. 22 rant, Seraphin mocked Patel as a “cross-eyed … thickish built super cool bro who’s almost 50 years old … Indian in America,” while suggesting Wilkins could not genuinely love him without ulterior motives.
The case, filed in federal court in Austin, argues Seraphin acted with “actual malice” — the legal standard for defamation against public figures — by knowingly spreading falsehoods or acting with reckless disregard for the truth.
“Ms. Wilkins is not now and never has been an agent for any intelligence agency,” her lawyers wrote.
“The notion that her relationship with Director Patel is part of some plot against her country is vile and ridiculous, and Defendant knows this.”
Wilkins claims the smear has damaged her career and reputation as a performer. As a rising country singer and a commentator for PragerU, she depends on her reputation as an “American-born, conservative Christian.”
Seraphin, who left the FBI under disputed circumstances and has since cultivated a following as a crusader against government overreach, has not publicly responded to the lawsuit.
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