Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit Against the Department of Justice in New York Illustrates Bad Faith and $100,000 in Unpaid Damages

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Dec. 26, 2025 - PRLog -- FOIA Information Bad Faith

For several years, now, in fact well into the fourth (4^th) year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") has knowingly, intentionally, and willfully acted in bad faith with respect to a foia request submitted to the FBI by Legalhotwater. This otherwise straightforward freedom of information act request, which has led to a full-blown lawsuit, began in 2021 under then FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by President Trump; both republicans.

The 2025 change of command at the FBI, now, led by FBI Director Kash Patel, also a republican appointed by President Trump, is the sole parameter that has changed in this bad faith scenario with the Department of Justice's FBI. The Department of Justice is no stranger to stonewalling and pursuing non-meritorious protracted litigation, as it has done so and continues to do so with other entities such as JudicialWatch.

What is particularly troubling in this FOIA lawsuit is that the Department of Justice, via its component the FBI, has not paid Legalhotwater $100,000 in damages. Even worse, the Department of Justice sought to cover up its bad faith in the Brooklyn federal district court, via a falsified trumped-up claim that it was entitled to a summary judgment as it alleged that Legalhotwater owed the FBI $50.00 for releasing extremely heavily redacted documents two (2) years too late as admitted in a court hearing. As to the $50.00, Legalhotwater under the journalism exemption requested a waiver of fees as the requested foia information files were in the public's interest with respect to fraud, waste, abuse, and public corruption; a fact the Department of Justice via its component the FBI conveniently overlooked.

Human Rights Claim

This FBI foia information lawsuit and in particular the outstanding unpaid damages of $100,000 has led to Legalhotwater filing several complaints with the United Nations Human Rights Council expected to convene in December 2025. Human rights violations entered the picture as the Department of Justice via the FBI has actively engaged in extortion, blackmail, and threats of bodily harm to Legalhotwater via commissioning international espionage pursuant the United States Code otherwise known as 702 FISA Prism. The hallmark of these human rights abuses involves the FBI and CIA https://legalhotwater.com/human-rights-violations-filed-against-the-department-of-justice/ which interfered with all of Legalhotwater's economic activity, thus forcing Legalhotwater into survival solely upon public welfare benefits of $180.00 USD monthly.

About Legalhotwater

The mission of Legalhotwater is to protect the public's right to know. Legalhotwater's journalism pursues public corruption, and abuse of power.