$39.7 MILLION LAWSUIT: J6er and Chicago Election Expert SUES U.S. Government Over Jan. 6 “Lawfare,” Pre-Dawn FBI Raid, and Political Retaliation
A federal civil-rights and tort lawsuit has been filed in Chicago, accusing the Biden-era Department of Justice and FBI of weaponizing law enforcement against an independent election-integrity advocate, using excessive force, retaliatory prosecution, and coordinated media smears tied to January 6 narratives.
Lawrence J. Ligas, a longtime grassroots election expert and independent voter, has filed a $39.7 million pro se federal lawsuit against the United States and individual federal actors over his January 6 prosecution and a pre-dawn FBI raid on his home.
The case, Ligas v. United States of America, et al., was filed December 29, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and assigned to Robert W. Gettleman.
Ligas alleges excessive force, retaliatory charging, and coordinated reputational harm — all, he says, to silence an independent who refused to echo the government’s preferred story about Donald J. Trump and January 6.
According to the complaint, Ligas traveled to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021 as an independent observer interested in election transparency, not as part of any group.
He maintains he did not storm the Capitol, did not breach barricades, and did not engage in violence or property damage.
Ligas alleges prosecutors attempted to coerce a plea that would have required him to falsely blame President Trump and claim Trump asked him to be “front and center” on January 6.
When he refused and asserted his right to trial, Ligas says the DOJ added a new felony obstruction charge — a move he characterizes as punishment for non-cooperation.
He further notes his criminal case was dismissed with prejudice by a D.C. judge — vindication he says came from the court, not from a political pardon.
ABC7 reported earlier this year:
According to the FBI, Ligas is seen on U.S. Capitol security cameras inside the building on Jan. 6. In one photo included in the complaint (below) they say he is seen taking a selfie while in the Capitol wearing a red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap.
Federal agents say they confirmed various pictures of Ligas on the scene of the insurrection, before, during and after it occurred by a distinctive “American flag-style scarf” that is apparent around the neck of the man in various photos and still-frames from security videos.
The FBI had interviewed Ligas “as a witness concerning a separate matter on or about October 2017,” according to the complaint. The agent who conducted that unspecified interview also identified Ligas as the man in the U.S. Capitol, according to the complaint. The nature of the previous FBI interview is not disclosed.
Ligas didn’t say anything further as he arrived home in Logan Square Wednesday afternoon. He actually had a hard time finding someone to let him in, perhaps because he had no cell phone since the FBI seized it as part of their search warrant.
As with many of the January 6th cases, the four charges against Ligas are misdemeanors. Jail time is possible, but unlikely for those not accused of theft or specific violent acts.
The lawsuit was filed just days before the January 6, 2026 statute-of-limitations deadline.
According to the complaint, Ligas was targeted not because he committed crimes, but because he refused to play along with the government’s preferred political narrative surrounding President Donald J. Trump.
The filing invokes Bivens, the Federal Tort Claims Act, and the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Amendments, alleging that federal agents acted willfully, maliciously, and unconstitutionally in order to silence an independent election-integrity advocate.
According to the press release:
Ligas is a long-time election-integrity advocate whose interest in National Voter ID and transparent elections led him to travel to Washington, D.C., and become one of the first demonstrators to arrive at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, as what he describes as an “election expert” and independent observer.
He emphasizes that he was not part of any group or organization that day and that he acted on his own as a civic-minded American, insisting on accountability in the election process.
He alleges that the Department of Justice and FBI attempted to make him an example through overcharged, generic offenses, and later what he characterizes as a retaliatory felony charge added after he declined plea negotiations that would have required him to falsely blame President Trump and admit that Trump asked him to be “front and center” on Jan. 6.
In media coverage, Ligas has publicly maintained that prosecutors added the new felony obstruction count only after he rejected plea negotiations, which he describes as punishment for exercising his right to trial and refusing to cooperate in advancing the government’s political narrative.
The December 1, 2021 Chicago FBI Raid
Central to Ligas’s tort and civil-rights lawsuit is the December 1, 2021 pre-dawn FBI raid on his Chicago apartment, executed on an arrest warrant related to Jan. 6 charges.
Ligas asserts that he never received a request for an interview, a voluntary surrender demand, or even a warning call before agents arrived at approximately 6:00 a.m., pounded on his door, and—within roughly thirty seconds—used a battering ram to force entry while he was still waking from sleep.
According to Ligas, as he rushed to the door, confused and thinking he might be in a nightmare, he shouted that if they were truly the FBI they should call his lawyer, Jason Cerni.
He alleges that the door then violently swung open, striking him in the forehead and causing whiplash-type injury as a team of approximately fifteen heavily armed FBI agents in masks and tactical vests flooded his home with guns pointed at his face.
He further alleges that the first agent through the door kept his finger on the trigger and used physical force against him even though Ligas did not resist or attempt to flee, leaving him paralyzed in fear as he stared down the barrel of a gun.
Ligas alleges that a supervising female FBI agent on scene permitted multiple agents to continue intimidation and abusive conduct while he was handcuffed behind his back, and that this excessive, unnecessary, and dangerous show of force forms part of his Bivens-style constitutional tort claims against individual agents and the United States.
Political Coordination, Media Smears, and Illinois Power Brokers
Ligas contends that the December 1, 2021 raid did not occur in a vacuum but was intertwined with political operatives in Illinois who, he alleges, sought to portray him publicly as a dangerous Jan. 6 figure.
He alleges that an FBI agent alerted an aide to Governor JB Pritzker in real time, who then prepared and distributed a press release on behalf of Democratic interests in Illinois, which he says was amplified statewide by allied political figures and campaigns.
According to Ligas, candidates and surrogates—including those in Republican primaries who sought to appear “tough on Jan. 6”—joined in through social-media posts and public statements, turning him into a political punching bag despite his long record of nonpartisan, hands-on civic work organizing press conferences, community events, and fundraisers in Chicago and Cook County.
He emphasizes that he was a pragmatic grassroots problem-solver and election volunteer who was never paid yet was branded as a radical by political actors who saw strategic value in doing so.
Ligas also criticizes Governor Pritzker for what he describes as broad, fear-inducing directives and communications urging the legal establishment to shun Jan. 6 defendants, which he believes chilled attorneys across Illinois and beyond from representing anyone associated with the events of that day.
He argues this informal blackballing is a major reason he has been forced to proceed pro se in his civil-rights lawsuit rather than with counsel.
“I Did Not Storm the Capitol”
In contrast to the government’s narrative, Ligas maintains that the events of January 6, 2021 did not constitute an insurrection as to his conduct:
He did not breach police barricades. He did not “storm” the Capitol. He was law-abiding and did not engage in violence or property damage.
He further asserts that he attempted to de-escalate tensions among demonstrators after Capitol Police began deploying flash-bang munitions into a crowd that he believed included peaceful Trump supporters and election-integrity demonstrators.
Ligas states that he personally suffered injuries from flash-bangs and witnessed what he characterizes as police conduct that escalated chaos and converted a rally into a melee later used for political purposes.
Despite never being part of the Proud Boys or any organized group, Ligas alleges that DOJ and FBI officials later attempted to retroactively associate him with Proud Boys activity because he arrived early and appeared in videos and social-media posts near group members—an association he describes as an unfounded “seditious conspiracy” narrative.
He maintains that his ultimate vindication came not from a presidential pardon but from a District of Columbia judge who dismissed his criminal case with prejudice.
Independent Voter, Not a Partisan Pawn
A central theme of Ligas’s lawsuit is that he is an independent voter in Chicago, not a Republican operative, and that his case undercuts the DOJ and FBI assertion that Jan. 6 prosecutions were nonpartisan.
He argues that because nearly all Jan. 6 defendants were Republicans, federal authorities saw strategic value in targeting an independent like him to reinforce that narrative.
Ligas frames himself as an independent election expert and civic reformer whose work predates Jan. 6 and includes exposing waste, fraud, and government malfeasance in Chicago and Cook County.
He contends that his refusal to accept plea deals, his willingness to speak publicly, and his continued election-integrity advocacy made him a target for institutional retaliation.
The Lawsuit and Demand for Accountability
The federal civil action filed in the Northern District of Illinois seeks damages and injunctive relief for:
Excessive force and unreasonable search and seizure during the December 1, 2021 FBI raid in Chicago.
Malicious and politically motivated prosecution related to his Jan. 6 case, including alleged retaliatory charging after plea negotiations failed.
Coordinated defamation and reputational harm involving alleged communications between federal actors and Illinois political operatives.
Interference with his rights as an election expert, civic organizer, and independent voter to engage in protected First Amendment speech and petitioning activity without being branded a terrorist.
Ligas states that he will continue pursuing accountability until the DOJ, FBI, and associated political actors are required to answer for what he alleges was a weaponization of law enforcement and media narratives against an ordinary citizen.
Call to Media, Supporters, and the Legal Community
Ligas is calling on:
Journalists to scrutinize the timeline of his case, from the pre-dawn raid to the later felony charge and dismissal, and to examine evidence of coordination between federal law enforcement and political actors in Illinois.
Civil-rights, constitutional, and tort attorneys—particularly those willing to withstand political pressure—to review his filings and consider entering an appearance or providing strategic support.
Civic and election-integrity organizations to recognize that weaponized prosecutions can be directed at independents and reformers, not only partisan activists.
“Standing up for accountability has cost me my reputation, my safety, and years of my life,” Ligas says. “This lawsuit is about drawing a clear line: federal law-enforcement agencies and their political allies do not get to destroy independent citizens for insisting on transparency and accountability.”
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