Jonathan Lee Riches is a prisoner known for the many lawsuits he has filed in various United States district courts. Riches is incarcerated at Federal Medical Center (FMC) Lexington Kentucky, for wire fraud under the terms of a plea bargain. His projected release date is March 23, 2012.

History

Since January 8, 2006, he has filed over one thousand lawsuits in federal district courts across the country, some of which have received considerable press attention. Among the more famous defendants of his lawsuits are New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, former President of the United States George W. Bush, entrepreneur Martha Stewart, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick,Rankin, Bill. (August 17 2007). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Accessed October 3 2007. entrepreneur Steve Jobs, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, Somali pirates, and pop star Britney Spears. He also sued the late Benazir Bhutto, Pervez Musharraf, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service on November 7, 2007, to prevent him from being deported to Pakistan upon his release from prison in March 2012 so that he will not be tortured.

On April 9, 2008, Riches filed a request for a temporary restraining order in a US District Court against Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, developer Rockstar Games, FCI Williamsburg, and Grand Theft Auto itself, claiming that the defendants "put me in prison." The inmate stated, "Defendants contributed to Plaintiff committing identity theft. Defendant's games show sex, drugs and violence which offends me." Riches continued, "Defendants put me in prison. I face imminent danger from violent inmates who played Grand Theft Auto who will knock me out and take my gold Jesus cross." FoxNews.com. Accessed April 20 2008.
Riches has also attempted to intervene as a plaintiff in the Madoff investment scandal, claiming that he "met Bernard Madoff on eharmony.com in 2001" and taught Madoff identity theft skills. Madoff Trustee Site. Accessed March 26 2008.
In May 2009, Riches filed for an injunction against the Guinness Book of World Records, seeking to stop them from naming him as the most litigious individual in the history of mankind.

Some of Riches' defendants are not even people or potentially suable. These include "Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party" and the "13 tribes of Israel". One lawsuit, which includes George Bush, also includes another 783 defendants that cover 56 pages. They include Plato, Nostradamus, Che Guevara, James Hoffa, "Various Buddhist Monks", the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower, the , the book Mein Kampf, the Garden of Eden, the Roman Empire, the Appalachian Trail, Plymouth Rock, the Holy Grail, the dwarf planet Pluto, and the entire Three Mile Island.

A number of Riches's lawsuits have been dismissed as being "frivolous, malicious" or failing "to state a claim upon which any relief could be granted". Willis Hunt, the U.S. District Court Judge who dismissed Riches' suit against Vick as "farcical," opined that his lawsuits were clearly self-promotional.