Five Proud Boys members file federal lawsuit alleging constitutional violations in Jan. 6 prosecutions.

Proud Boys Seek Damages Over DOJ, FBI Tactics

Five members of the Proud Boys have filed a $100 million lawsuit against the United States government, accusing federal agencies of violating their constitutional rights during the prosecution of their alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack.

The plaintiffs—Enrique Tarrio, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Dominic Pezzola—filed the civil action in federal court in Florida. They allege that officials in the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) engaged in “egregious and systemic abuse” of the legal system to target political allies of President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit claims the prosecutions involved evidence tampering, witness intimidation, attorney-client privilege violations, and infiltration of defense strategy via government-placed informants. The plaintiffs likened their treatment to medieval public punishments intended to silence dissent, stating the government’s objective was to “imprison the J6 Defendants… as a warning to any who would think to challenge the status quo.”

Trump Pardons Follow Lengthy Sentences

Four of the five men were previously convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the Capitol breach. Tarrio, who was not physically present on January 6 due to a prior arrest barring him from Washington, D.C., received the harshest sentence: 22 years. Nordean, Biggs, and Rehl were sentenced to 18, 17, and 15 years respectively. Pezzola, convicted of conspiracy to obstruct Congress, received a 10-year sentence.

President Trump commuted or pardoned each of the men after taking office this year, actions that have since enabled them to pursue legal redress for their treatment. “Now that the Plaintiffs are vindicated, free, and able to once again exercise their rights as American citizens, they bring this action against their tormentors,” the lawsuit states. They cite violations of their Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights, as well as the common law torts of malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.

Prosecutors had accused the group of organizing the Capitol breach using a novel legal theory referred to in the complaint as the “tool theory” of criminal conspiracy. According to the plaintiffs, they were effectively convicted of “stochastic terrorism,” a term they claim was used to criminalize protected political speech.

Among the claims in the lawsuit is the assertion that the DOJ lacked probable cause to conduct home raids on the defendants. Pezzola, in particular, had been captured on video using a police riot shield to initiate the Capitol breach, which prosecutors cited as key evidence during the trial.

The DOJ has not publicly responded to the suit. The case brings renewed attention to the legal tactics used in post-January 6 prosecutions and raises broader questions about the boundaries of political expression, prosecutorial conduct, and government accountability.