Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,
A former Jan. 6 defendant who alleged torture and other abuse in custody is suing the federal government for almost $18 million.
The lawsuit by Ryan Samsel of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was filed late June 9 in federal court in Virginia, six months after he gave the government the legally required notice he was planning to litigate.
He is seeking $17,980,000 from the federal government for physical and mental injuries suffered from January 2021 through January 2025.
According to the newly filed legal complaint, Samsel was convicted in February 2024 of civil disorder-related offenses in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach and was incarcerated and awaiting sentencing when President Donald Trump pardoned him last year.
Specifically, he was convicted on felony charges of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers; and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) previously said. Samsel disputes the criminal allegations.
Samsel alleges he was subjected to physical and psychological abuse while in custody at facilities operated by the DOJ and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in the District of Columbia and Virginia.
At those facilities, “he was repeatedly beaten, subject to other incidents of extraordinary physical and mental abuse and routinely denied medical care.”
In addition, he was “wrongfully detained for one day after receiving a full pardon, based on false allegations of an outstanding warrant made by the prosecutor.”
The DOJ also leaked false information to the media indicating that Samsel was a member of the Proud Boys, the complaint alleges.
The group, some of whose members have been accused of violence, describes itself as a patriotic drinking club.
The complaint says that during his incarceration, Samsel suffered orbital bone fractures and bilateral nasal bone fractures.
Among his other injuries were a dislocated jaw, multiple concussions, traumatic brain injuries, an acute kidney injury, and stab wounds to his legs, ankles, and arms.
He experienced severe post-traumatic stress disorder and cognitive and memory impairment “attributable to repeated head trauma and prolonged psychological torture.”
He also suffered “retaliatory solitary confinement with continuous lighting, sleep deprivation, public degradation in the restraint chair, and exposure to extreme violence and unsanitary conditions at the Facilities.”
Samsel’s attorney, Peter Haller, declined to comment on the freshly filed lawsuit.
In a prior court filing, Haller said, “Given the severity, duration, and documented multiplicity of the abuses suffered by Mr. Samsel, he is likely to be recognized as the most tortured individual by the Federal Government in recent American history.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the DOJ for comment but received no reply by publication time.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 06/11/2026 – 13:00
