Crime & Law
Chicago’s Ex-FBI Chief Suing US Attorney Andrew Boutros, Claiming He Was Scapegoated for Botched Broadview Six Prosecution
Douglas DePodesta, special agent in charge of the Chicago Field Office, speaks with reporters at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago, Feb. 12, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)
The former head of Chicago’s FBI field office claims he was forced into retirement and used as a “scapegoat” by top federal prosecutor Andrew Boutros to cover “for his own misconduct” and that of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Douglas DePodesta, who abruptly resigned his position over the summer, is suing Boutros, the FBI, Department of Justice and other top Trump administration officials in a bombshell complaint which alleges he was forced out and blamed for the botched “Broadview Six” prosecution.
“To deflect attention from his own malfeasance, Boutros began a campaign within the Department of Justice to blame DePodesta for the unraveling of the case,” the 38-page lawsuit states. “Despite knowing that the case was dismissed because of improprieties by those under Boutros’ supervision … Boutros repeatedly complained to his superiors in Washington that DePodesta was responsible for the disintegration of the Broadview Six case.”
Spokespeople for Boutros’ office and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday.
Following the collapse of the “Broadview Six” case — in which a half dozen demonstrators outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview processing center were charged with conspiring to impede and damage an agent’s SUV — several prominent Democratic leaders have called on Boutros to resign.
But according to the lawsuit, Boutros has sought to place blame instead on DePodesta, whose sister-in-law, Nancy DePodesta, worked as a defense attorney for one of the six former defendants.
The lawsuit states that in June — just days after Boutros appeared before a federal judge to apologize and personally dismiss the charges against the remaining Broadview defendants, DePodesta received a call from Christopher Raia, the deputy director of the FBI in Washington D.C.
According to the lawsuit, Raia told him Boutros had informed his DOJ superiors that DePodesta and his sister-in-law “had conspired to destroy the Broadview Six case.”
“Deputy Director Raia said that Defendant Boutros had created a stir with his allegations against DePodesta and those allegations were communicated to FBI Director Kashyap Patel,” the complaint states.
Patel is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
DePodesta replied that he had nothing to do with the case being dismissed, calling those accusations “absurd,” according to the lawsuit.
He maintained he “had not, and would never have” discussed the Broadview case with his sister-in-law and “explained that the case disintegrated primarily because of the improprieties by (assistant U.S. attorneys) during grand jury proceedings and in court. No one other than the AUSAs took part in those improprieties.”
Raia agreed with DePodesta, the lawsuit states, stating “Boutros’ allegations could not be true.” But a month later, DePodesta got another call from his Washington superiors, who allegedly informed him Boutros had continued blaming him to Patel and others who “did not want the controversy” and insisted that DePodesta “needed to be terminated, regardless of the truth of Boutros’ allegations about DePodesta.”
“On information and belief, Defendant Boutros sought a scapegoat for his own misconduct and that of his Office,” the lawsuit states. “Special Agent In Charge DePodesta was that scapegoat.”
The Broadview Six case fell apart in May after unsealed transcripts from the grand jury proceedings in that case last fall revealed Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg allegedly excused skeptical grand jurors, admitted speaking with grand jurors outside of the hearings and “vouched” for the merits of the allegations against the defendants.
That conduct was not revealed to U.S. District Judge April Perry or the public for months, with the judge saying in May she was "incredibly shocked” and had never before seen such conduct by a prosecutor before a grand jury.
“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 Monday. “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 the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.”
Boutros denied knowing about that alleged misconduct until shortly before he dismissed the case, and has said his office has since enacted policy reforms in order to prevent those types of actions from occurring again.
But defense attorneys have long believed the case was politically motivated and have sought to uncover any evidence showing it was directed by the Trump administration.
The lawsuit alleges that, in response to the calls from Washington, D.C., Boutros instructed his office to charge protesters with crimes, but that in some instances, he was “met with resistance from Assistant United States Attorneys (“AUSAs”) who believed probable cause did not exist to charge protesters with crimes.”
“In response,” the lawsuit states, “Defendant Boutros instructed the AUSAs to move the cases forward, despite their misgivings.”
The lawsuit claims Boutros has knowingly lied about what took place as the Broadview case collapsed, and that “his false statements had their intended effect.”
“In a vain attempt to salvage his own reputation,” the lawsuit states, “Defendant Boutros pressured and convinced Defendants Patel, FBI, Blanche, and DOJ to sacrifice an outstanding public servant.”
