Two of the four of the LOLsuits Brett Kimberlin filed against me were federal RICO suits. I’ve generally referred to first suit as the RICO Madness LOLsuit and the second as RICO 2: Electric Boogaloo LOLsuit. However, they weren’t the first RICO suit Kimberlin ever filed. The TKPOTD for nine years ago today was about his first RICO case.
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In his biography of Brett Kimberlin, Mark Singer discusses the pornography business that Kimberlin ran while he was in prison selling porn to other inmates. On p. 203 of Citizen K, he describes how the business ended after he lost his original connection and tried a new source.
In January 1987, in a federal court in Madison, Wisconsin, Kimberlin sued Crest Paragon Productions, alleging false advertising, breach of contract, mail fraud, conspiracy, and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). According to the complaint, instead of the thirty magazines and sixteen books Kimberlin expected when he responded to a back-of-the-book advertisement placed by Crest Paragon, he was sent “fifteen pamphlets and three paperback books of low quality.”
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Though Kimberlin felt conflicted because “I could have made a fortune on that stuff inside prison if it wasn’t contraband,” mainly he felt compelled to sue. He asked for compensatory and punitive damages totaling $150,000.
The Gentle Reader will probably not be surprised to learn that the case was thrown out of court.
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That zeroth RICO case was no more successful than the three he filed in the 21st century. None of his RICO claims every survived a motion to dismiss, and none of his other claims survived summary judgment. In fact, the third case this century was dismissed by the judge on his own before any summons were issued to defendants.