Sinema seduced bodyguard and ruined his marriage, lawsuit claims

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a statement from Heather Ammel’s attorney.

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Speaking to Phoenix New Times last year, former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema credited a member of her security detail for inspiring her push for research into psychedelic drugs. According to a lawsuit filed last year in North Carolina — and elevated to federal court more recently — bodyguard Matthew Ammel also inspired a great deal of horniness.

According to an alienation of affection complaint filed by Heather Ammel, the bodyguard’s wife, Sinema knowingly seduced her husband while he worked for the Arizona senator, shattering their marriage of 14 years and resulting in their separation in November 2024. The former couple has three children together.

The lawsuit was first reported by Law360 on Wednesday morning. Neither Sinema’s team nor her lawyers immediately responded to a request for comment from New Times.

In a statement sent to New Times after this story was published, Heather Ammel’s attorney, Thomas M. Van Camp, wrote: Ms. Sinema’s pursuit of Heather’s husband Matthew was intentional, calculated, relentless, and, ultimately, successful. She enticed Mr. Ammel with lavish trips and concerts, an exorbitant salary for his services, and psychedelic drugs. Her conduct evidenced a complete disregard for the Ammel’s marriage as well as the family as a whole. Heather simply seeks to hold Ms. Sinema accountable for her destructive behavior.”

Ammel is seeking more than $75,000 in the suit, according to court filings. Sinema moved to dismiss the case when it was in county court in North Carolina, citing a lack of jurisdiction, but has not responded since the case was removed to federal court.

Heather Ammel’s suit claims that Sinema traded sexual messages with Matthew Ammel and frequently traveled alone with him to concerts and other events around the country. Sinema allegedly sent Matthew Ammel encrypted messages on Signal that were “of romantic and lascivious nature” and told him to bring the drug MDMA on a work trip so that she could “guide him through a psychedelic experience.”

“Prior to (Sinema’s) intentional and malicious interference, (Heather and Matthew Ammel) had a good and loving marriage, and genuine love and affection existed between them,” the complaint reads.

After retiring from the Army in 2022, Matthew Ammel was hired by Sinema’s former head of security as a member of her security detail. In her complaint, his wife says he suffered from substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury after separating from the Army.

Sinema confirmed as much in several public appearances last year as she worked to promote the study of ibogaine, a psychoactive drug derived from an African plant. During last year’s legislative session, Sinema worked with Republican state Rep. Justin Wilmeth to introduce legislation to allocate $5 million to fund research on ibogaine. Funding for ibogaine research was incorporated into the state budget, and research organizations could begin applying for that funding in October.

In an interview with New Times in March, Sinema credited the impact the drug had on Matthew Ammel as her inspiration to advocate for the bill. She said her bodyguard had traveled to Mexico for one week to receive ibogaine treatment in May 2023. He returned having made significant progress. Ammel also testified in favor of Sinema’s bill at the Arizona Legislature. 

“I saw the difference it was making in his life and in his kind of thinking and his behavior,” Sinema told New Times.

At the same time, according to Heather Ammel’s lawsuit, Sinema was making quite a difference, too.

The complaint says that in the fall of 2023, about a year and a half after Matthew Ammel joined Sinema’s security detail, Sinema’s head of security resigned. Before that, the head of security — unnamed in the complaint — allegedly told Matthew Ammel that she was concerned Sinema “was having sexual relations with other security members.” The head of security urged Ammel to leave his position as well, but he stayed.

‘You took a married man away from his family’

Around that time, the complaint says, Matthew Ammel began accompanying Sinema on trips, including to Napa Valley, San Francisco, a Taylor Swift concert in Miami and a U2 concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas. (Heather Ammel also attended some of those, including the U2 concert. Her complaint says that she, her husband and Sinema went to the suite of Cindy McCain afterward and partied with Sen. John McCain’s widow. “Did you ever think you would be drinking Dom Perignon in Cindy McCain’s suite?” Sinema allegedly asked her.)

Per the complaint, Ammel was initially uneasy traveling with Sinema. He allegedly told his wife he was uncomfortable after a trip with Sinema to Napa Valley, saying it would have looked to outsiders as if they were on a romantic getaway. He also allegedly told his wife that Sinema got “handsy” with him at the 2024 Extra Innings Festival in Tempe, touching him and holding his hand.

At other points, the lawsuit says, Matthew Ammel seemed more welcoming of Sinema’s alleged advances. Less than two years into Matt Ammel’s employment with Sinema, his wife discovered the two were “frequently messaging” on the encrypted app Signal. The messages, which the complaint describes as “romantic and lascivious,” included a photo of Sinema wrapped in a towel and exchanges about having sex in the missionary position, which Sinema allegedly labeled “Boring!” Matthew Ammel also allegedly messaged while he attended a baseball game, joking about starting a “fuck the troops” chant. Sinema allegedly replied that she would “fuck the hot ones.”

The pair’s messages weren’t always sexual in nature, according to the complaint. Sinema offered to help the bodyguard with his mental health, leading her to suggest an experience with MDMA. During one of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union addresses — the complaint isn’t clear as to which year — Sinema allegedly texted Matthew Ammel that she’d skipped it because “she doesn’t need to listen to some old man…talk about the legislation that she wrote.”

The complaint says Sinema and the bodyguard frequently stayed alone together on work trips and at Sinema’s residences. In one instance, the lawsuit says, Sinema messaged him that she’d purchased a Theragun and told him to come over so she could “work on his back.” Midway through 2024, Matthew Ammel stopped wearing his wedding ring when he traveled with Sinema because it would be bad for “public optics” if she were seen putting her hands on a married man.

Around that same time, the complaint says, Sinema put Matthew Ammel on her senatorial staff as a Defense and National Security Fellow.

A few months later, Heather Ammel says she found other messages from Sinema on her husband’s phone. Sinema allegedly messaged him that “she keeps waking up during her sleep and reaching over for his arms to hold her,” per the complaint. Heather Ammel says she confronted her husband about that message. In October 2024, Sinema allegedly messaged him, “I miss you. Putting my hand on your heart. I’ll see you soon.” 

Heather Ammel responded. “(A)re you having an affair with my husband?” the complaint says she wrote. “You took a married man away from his family.” The complaint does not say if Sinema replied.

The complaint says the Ammels separated a month later.

In her lawsuit, Heather Ammel alleges that Sinema’s relationship with her estranged husband is ongoing. As recently as September, the lawsuit claims, Sinema drove him to the couple’s custody and equitable distribution mediation and waited outside while he moved his possessions from the couple’s home.

Beyond its salacious claims about Sinema, Heather Ammel’s lawsuit hinges on a little-known North Carolina law. The state is one of only a handful that recognize “alienation of affection,” which gives a spouse legal grounds to sue a third party for interfering in a marriage. Relatedly, Heather Ammel’s complaint takes care to show the couple’s connection to the state, where they lived, and that Sinema should have been aware of their residency there. 

In a motion for a protective order filed when the case was at the county court level, Sinema painstakingly argues she has no connection to North Carolina at all.