Former Chicago FBI Chief Sues Justice Department, Alleging Political Ouster Over Collapsed Protest Case

CHICAGO — The former leader of the FBI’s Chicago field office claims he was forced out after being unfairly blamed for collapsed prosecutions against six people who demonstrated against federal immigration enforcement in the city, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.

Douglas DePodesta, a 24-year FBI veteran, alleges in his suit against senior Justice Department officials that federal prosecutors pursued “politically motivated prosecutions” against Chicago demonstrators before gathering evidence. He says his superiors informed him that FBI Director Kash Patel wanted him terminated, and that he resigned under pressure this summer.

“I saw the writing on the wall,” DePodesta told The Associated Press on Monday.

He accuses the top federal prosecutor in Illinois, Andrew Boutros, of launching a “campaign within the Department of Justice to blame” him after the so-called “Broadview Six” case fell apart earlier this year.

Boutros’ office declined to comment. The FBI and Justice Department, both named in the suit, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hours after DePodesta filed the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge April Perry ordered Boutros and three assistant attorneys to testify under oath on Nov. 16 regarding the failed case against the protesters.

“There is more than an adequate factual basis for the Court to pursue an inquiry as to whether willful false statements were made to the court,” Perry wrote in the order.

Federal prosecutors brought charges against roughly 30 demonstrators during the Chicago immigration enforcement operation known as Operation Midway Blitz. Many of those charges have since been dropped or dismissed.

According to DePodesta’s lawsuit, Boutros faced pressure from the Justice Department throughout the crackdown to charge protesters with felonies.

“Boutros sent DePodesta emails demanding that DePodesta open FBI investigations into individuals with political views or affiliations in opposition to the Trump administration,” DePodesta’s attorneys wrote.

The suit alleges that Boutros frequently pressured prosecutors under him in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois to file charges “before investigating the objective evidence,” and sought felony charges even when subordinate attorneys preferred misdemeanors or no charges at all.

Last October, the office charged six people with conspiring to obstruct a federal officer, a felony, for their actions during a protest at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb.

Court transcripts, which a judge ordered Boutros’ office to unseal by removing redactions, later showed that a grand jury twice declined to indict the six despite prosecutors’ urgings and an unusual speech Boutros delivered to jurors. Boutros dropped all charges against the six in May as the court moved to investigate possible prosecutorial misconduct.

DePodesta’s attorneys allege that Boutros “repeatedly complained to his superiors in Washington” that the failure was DePodesta’s fault “to deflect attention from his own malfeasance.” DePodesta denied the accusations to his FBI superiors, who reportedly conceded he was being forced out due to the “political pressure Boutros created,” according to the suit.

The lawsuit also alleges that Boutros told Justice Department leadership that DePodesta and his sister-in-law, Nancy DePodesta—an attorney representing one of the six former defendants—“conspired to destroy” the case.

Nancy DePodesta, who represents Michael Rabbitt, one of the former defendants, confirmed to the AP that she is Douglas DePodesta’s sister-in-law.

“There is no one at the FBI who took their oath of office and their ethical and moral responsibilities more seriously than Doug,” Nancy DePodesta said in a statement to the AP. “It is both heartbreaking and shameful that he was forced out of his position based on what appear to be utterly false rumors spread by” Boutros, she added.

In late September, one of the prosecutors on the “Broadview Six” case abruptly resigned, writing in a scathing resignation letter that Boutros had “scapegoated and publicly vilified” her. She filed a motion asking the court to treat her as an independent party going forward.

The former defendants have asked Judge Perry to appoint a special counsel to investigate possible prosecutorial misconduct. At an Oct. 1 hearing, Perry ordered additional “fact-finding” about communications between Boutros’ office and Justice Department leadership.

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