History
Since January 8, 2006, he has filed over twenty-six hundred lawsuits in federal district courts across the country, some of which have received considerable press attention. Among the more famous defendants of his lawsuits are Dallas area lawyer Treyson Brooks, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, former President of the United States George W. Bush, Martha Stewart, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, entrepreneur Steve Jobs, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, Somali pirates, and pop star Britney Spears. He also sued the late Benazir Bhutto, Pervez Musharraf, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service on November 7, 2007, to prevent him from being deported to Pakistan upon his release from prison in March 2012 so that he will not be tortured.
On April 9, 2008, Riches filed a request for a temporary restraining order in a US District Court against Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, developer Rockstar Games, FCI Williamsburg, and Grand Theft Auto itself, claiming that the defendants "put me in prison." The inmate stated, "Defendants contributed to Plaintiff committing identity theft. Defendant's games show sex, drugs and violence which offends me." Riches continued, "Defendants put me in prison. I face imminent danger from violent inmates who played Grand Theft Auto who will knock me out and take my gold Jesus cross."
Riches has also attempted to intervene as a plaintiff in the Madoff investment scandal, claiming that he "met Bernard Madoff on eharmony.com in 2001" and taught Madoff identity theft skills.
In May 2009, Riches filed for an injunction against the Guinness Book of World Records, seeking to stop them from naming him as the most litigious individual in the history of mankind.
Some of Riches' defendants are not even people or potentially sueable. These include "Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party" and the "13 tribes of Israel." One lawsuit, which includes George Bush, also includes another 783 defendants that cover 57 pages. They include Plato, Nostradamus, Che Guevara, James Hoffa, "Various Buddhist Monks," all survivors of the Holocaust, the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower, the USS Cole, the book Mein Kampf, the Garden of Eden, the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, the Appalachian Trail, Plymouth Rock, the Holy Grail, Nordic gods, the dwarf planet Pluto, and the entire Three Mile Island.
A number of Riches's lawsuits have been dismissed as being "frivolous, malicious" or failing "to state a claim upon which any relief could be granted." Willis Hunt, the U.S. District Court Judge who dismissed Riches' suit against Vick as "farcical," opined that his lawsuits were clearly self-promotional.
Currently he is the subject of much media scrutiny and satire. Someone has made a Twitter account using @jonathanlriches and others. In August 2010 he filed suit against Julian Assange of Wikileaks.
In January 2011, Riches filed a suit seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Jared Loughner from being transferred to Federal Medical Center Lexington, alleging that Loughner may wind up as his cellmate and could attempt to murder him for being a moderate Democrat.
In June 2012, Riches filed a law suit against Kanye West and Kim Kardashian for being terrorists.
Read more about this topic: Jonathan Lee Riches
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