I'm a U.S. citizen forced to seek asylum in Quebec, Canada, citing "government sanctioned defamation ..., persistent threats of trumped-up charges from state and federal officials, and a risk of cruel and unusual punishment upon return." Pendleton v. Miyares, et al., No. 23-7500 (U.S. Oct. 24, 2024).

A well known civil rights attorney has expressed interest in representing me and this fundraiser is geared toward covering their initial retainer in this very high profile and contentious situation.

The case history is long and complex: on October 8, 2013, while living as a college student in Seattle, I became the target of a sophisticated cyberstalking campaign perpetrated by George Mason University economics professor Tyler Cowen of Virginia, who was recently identified through FOIA as a federal employee and who has ties to CIA-backed surveillance company Palantir. On March 26, 2014, after spending several months reporting Cowen’s activities to law enforcement across the country, I attempted to place Mr. Cowen under citizen’s arrest according to the common law of Virginia. As a result of this incident, the court had me committed to a mental hospital where I was forced to accept several years of treatment for an illness I do not have.

In 2022, I discovered that the Virginia laws that sent me to the hospital and kept me detained indefinitely without evidence have been unconstitutional for decades, in violation of the equal protection and due process holdings in Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U.S. 71, 112 S. Ct. 1780, 118 L. Ed. 2d 437 (1992). When I began filing petitions challenging these laws, Virginia retaliated in a way that has permanently impaired my livelihood, and for more than three years now state and federal officials have conspired to prevent me from accessing the courts across multiple districts and in two different appellate circuits. Being unable to work professionally, unable to access the courts, unable to retrieve my passport, and receiving threats from numerous government officials both on and off the record, I decided to seek refuge in Canada in August of 2024.

On April 11, I filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia once again asking for the return of my passport, and pleading that I am "not charged with a crime as a matter of fact, and could not be charged with a crime as a matter of law." Pendleton v. United States, et al, No. 1:25-CV-01218 (D.C. 2025). The amended complaint filed in August makes claims against ten federal judges who have violated the reconstruction era Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1985 -- covering up not just the cruel and unusual punishment of American citizens but also the pervasive surveillance activities of the U.S. Government.

The underlying issue in this case, as explained to the Canadians and in a subsequent petition to the Supreme Court, involves warrantless wiretapping using a backdoor that has been integrated into all western CPUs. This story is a predictable example of how one abuse has inevitably led to another and why the spyware embedded in the processors of all our devices is an imminent threat to human freedom.

The latest filings in the U.S. Supreme Court from March 30, 2026, asking Chief Justice Roberts to grant a preliminary injunction, and establishing my complete innocence, are available on the SCOTUS website.