A.R. Thane Ritchie Information

A.R. Thane Ritchie is the Captain of the Ritchie Ship

In Huizenga v. Ritchie, 07 CH 9626, Circuit Court of Cook County, affd. 2016 IL App (1st) 152733-U, cert denied, Judge Flynn found that A.R. Thane Ritchie was the “undisputed captain of the Ritchie ship” and was therefore guilty of violating the Delaware Securities Act. (The finding is on page 37 of the Memorandum Order and Judgment in that case.) Ritchie appealed (and lost) the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nothing has changed since Judge Flynn made his findings.

In John Doe Corp.1 et al v. Huizenga Managers Fund LLC, et al., the Honorable Bonnie M. Wheaton held:

“I believe that what [defendants] are asking for is not only attorneys fees but that there be an end to this serial litigation. [Defendants] are looking for an end to a game of Wac-a-mole where they have to go to various jurisdictions to fight the same fight. . . . Now 14 months after this case was originally filed, I’ve heard for the first time the identity of the Plaintiffs. . . . It seems from what I’ve read in the papers that other judges have felt that when various iterations of this case have appeared in their courtrooms, they have felt that sanctions were available. And I think it is now a question that has been placed directly in my lap. If there is serial litigation and there is further threat of more litigation, what would be appropriate to deter these two now named Plaintiffs from bringing similar cases in Utah or Maine or New Mexico. I don’t know if that’s a valid threat, and if so what sanction would be appropriate. . . .I believe that discovery is essential for the reasons that I have just iterated.” (Report of Proceedings, April 19, 2019, 31:13-32:16)

In response to counsel’s inquiry as to whether the Court’s concern was specifically with respect to these two identified Plaintiffs, Judge Wheaton responded:

“Or their entities, their subsidiaries, their parent corporations. I don’t know what the structure is of all of these organizations. I don’t know if this would be like zombie coming up after its death.”(Report of Proceedings, April 19, 2019, 33:14-18)

In Ritchie Multi-Strategies Global, LLC, et al. v. Huizenga Managers Fund, LLC, et al, Case No. 18 CH 6001, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Huizenga argued to the Court:

“What’s interesting is that the plaintiffs have done everything in their power to make this as expensive as possible. And make no mistake about it. This case was filed for an improper purpose, to create a conflict, to drive up litigation costs, to in essence, harass my client . . .
And instead, we have what, 13 lawsuits filed, four in this state, plus an ARDC proceeding, plus four or five cases, including a bankruptcy case, in Delaware, all in the past two and a half years by Mr. Ritchie in an endless onslaught of “nonsense,” as Judge Flynn referred to it, “garbage,” as Judge Flynn referred to it, the worst conduct that you’ve seen in your 15 years on the bench.” (Transcript of Proceedings on August 26, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. before Honorable Sanjay T. Tailor. 41:4-22)

Finding Huizenga’s argument persuasive, Judge Sanjay Tailor assessed sanctions in an amount of $458,016.17. Judge Tailor held that:

“I have already determined that this action was filed for an improper purpose. My not-so-brief time overseeing this case tells me that Mr. Ritchie, through his various companies and through his counsel, the Clayborne firm, attempted to do nothing short of sowing anarchy in the civil justice system.”(Transcript of Proceedings before Honorable Sanjay T. Tailor. 57:21 – 58:4)

SEC Action: Includes SEC documents, press releases, and news articles about actions taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with respect to A.R. Thane Ritchie
Criminal Matters: Includes federal search warrants issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas along with ATF forfeiture documents relative to the forfeiture of items seized from those searches.
Court Cases: Includes civil court proceedings brought by Ritchie entities against others, Ritchie entities against other Ritchie entities, and civil suits brought against Ritchie entities by others.
Press: Includes links to miscellaneous press reports with respect to A.R. Thane Ritchie and companies under his ownership and/or control.