In 2016 attorney Roy Den Hollander, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday after the Sunday attack on the family of Federal Judge Esther Salas, sued a number of media personalties alleging RICO violations on their part in their coverage of then candidate Donald Trump.
The defendants are listed as “Major Elliott Garrett, CBS News reporter; Katharine Bear Tur, NBC News reporter; Charles David Todd, NBC moderator of Meet the Press; Thomas Llamas, ABC News reporter and anchor; Abilio James Acosta, CNN reporter; David Brooks, commentator for the New York Times and PBS News Hour; Jenna Johnson, Washington Post reporter”
The complaint, filed on August 23, 2016 in the Southern District of New York, reads like a legalese version of a Breitbart comment.
This is an action against the above named defendant news reporters and commentators (“Reporters”) for violating the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et al., (“RICO”) by repeatedly committing the racketeering activity of wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, when they (1) create and cause to be broadcast and disseminated false and misleading news reports concerning the Donald J. Trump candidacy for President of the United States (“Trump Candidacy”); (2) provide commentary based on a false set of facts or fail to reveal the alleged factual basis for the assertion of their judgments; and (3) lobby on various news-talk shows in furtherance of their opposition to the Trump Candidacy.