Proud Boys members file federal lawsuit over 'illegal' tactics in Jan. 6 prosecutions

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Five members of the Proud Boys are suing the U.S. government and certain employees in the FBI and Department of Justice for $100 million over their Jan. 6 prosecutions. 

Enrique Tarrio, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Dominic Pezzola allege in the lawsuit the FBI and DOJ violated their constitutional rights with their prosecution over what prosecutors said was their planning of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

In a document filed in a Florida federal court and obtained by Fox News Digital, the men claim "egregious and systemic abuse of the legal system and the United States Constitution to punish and oppress political allies of President Trump, by any and all means necessary, legal, or illegal.

"Through the use of evidence tampering, witness intimidation, violations of attorney-client privilege, and placing spies to report on trial strategy, the government got its fondest wish of imprisoning the J6 Defendants, the modern equivalent of placing one's enemies' heads on a spike outside the town wall as a warning to any who would think to challenge the status quo."

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for comment. 

Four of the five men were convicted of seditious conspiracy after the attack, and Tarrio faced the harshest punishment - 22 years for planning the attack - of any of the Jan. 6 defendants, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Nordean was sentenced to 18 years, Biggs was sentenced to 17 years and Rehl was sentenced to 15 years. Pezzola was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct Congress and sentenced to 10 years in prison. 

However, President Donald Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of nearly all the defendants after he took office this year, including Tarrio, Rehl, Nordean, Biggs and Pezzola. 

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All the men except Tarrio were at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, according to the Journal. 

Tarrio had been barred from entering Washington, D.C., because of a previous arrest, The Washington Post reported. 

"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 for violations of their Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment Rights … as well as the common law tort of malicious prosecution and false imprisonment," the suit adds. 

Prosecutors said Pezzola was seen on video using a police riot shield to commit the first breach of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6.

Prosecutors alleged the men were charged under a "novel theory of criminal conspiracy called the 'tool theory,'" according to the suit. "Despite the legal jiggery-pokery employed by the government to obscure the fact, the Plaintiffs were essentially convicted of 'stochastic terrorism,' a leftist bugbear used to describe rhetoric offensive to them that they claim provokes violent acts."

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The men also claimed in the lawsuit that the government didn't have probable cause to raid their homes.