1

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

GEORGE WEBB SWEIGERT, :

:

Plaintiff, : Civil Action No.: 17-2330 (RC)

:

v. : Re Document No.: 20, 21, 23, 24, 33,

: 35, 41, 42, 47, 50

:

JOHN PODESTA, et al. :

:

Defendants. :

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS TO DISMISS; DENYING AS MOOT PLAINTIFF’S MOTION 

FOR SUBSTITUTED SERVICE ON DEFENDANT IMRAN AWAN; DENYING AS MOOT PLAINTIFF’S 

“REQUEST FOR ORAL ARGUMENT ON OPPOSITION TO PODESTA ET AL. DEFENDANT’S MOTION 

TO DISMISS AMENDED COMPLAINT”; DENYING AS MOOT PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR 

SUBSTITUTED SERVICE ON DEFENDANT ANTHONY WEINER; AND DENYING AS MOOT 

PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT FOR DEFENDANT GLENN SIMPSON

I. INTRODUCTION

Pro se plaintiff George Webb Sweigert brings this putative class action against a host of

individuals and entities purportedly associated with the Democratic National Party—including

Haseeb Rana, the Democratic National Committee (“the DNC”),

1 John Podesta, the Podesta 

Group, Kim Fritts, Deborah Wasserman Schultz, Huma Abedin, and Imran Awan2—in 

 1

 The complaint also names Thomas Perez and DNC Services Corp., doing business as 

the Democratic National Committee, as Defendants. The Complaint names Mr. Perez in his 

official capacity as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. This memorandum 

opinion refers to Mr. Perez and the Democratic National Committee collectively as “the DNC” 

or “DNC.”

2

 No counsel has appeared on behalf of the other Defendants—Rao Abbas, Hina Alvi, 

Abid Awan, Jamal Awan, Natalia Sova, and Anthony Weiner—and it appears that these other 

Defendants have not yet been served with Plaintiff’s complaint. See Sweigert v. Podesta, 17-cv02330-RC (D.D.C. as of 9/20/2018).
2

connection with alleged actions taken by Defendants during the Democratic primaries to the 

2016 U.S. Presidential election. See generally Compl., ECF No. 1; see id. ¶¶ 4–19. In 

particular, Mr. Sweigert, an alleged supporter of Bernie Sanders, asserts that Defendants 

committed fraud and breach of fiduciary duty by, among other things, executing an undisclosed 

funding agreement with a not-for-profit associated with the Hillary Clinton campaign and by 

conducting a website-hacking conspiracy to promote Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and to diminish 

the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. See id. ¶ 42–43, 52. Defendants Haseeb Rana, the DNC, the 

Podesta Group, Deborah Wasserman Schultz, Huma Abedin, and Imran Awan each move to 

dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6).

For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants Defendants’ motions to dismiss for lack 

of subject matter jurisdiction. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 12(h)(3), this 

order applies to all Defendants, not just those who have responded, because no named Defendant 

bears a causal relation to Mr. Sweigert’s alleged injury in fact. And the Court denies as moot 

four motions filed by Mr. Sweigert, one asking the Court to direct the United States Marshal to 

serve a Defendant who has now been served, a second requesting a hearing on one of the nowresolved motions to dismiss, a third requesting an order for substituted service on a Defendant, 

and a fourth seeking summary judgment on claims against one Defendant. 

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND3

In the 2016 Presidential election’s Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton won the party’s 

nomination over Bernie Sanders and other candidates. Mr. Sweigert, an alleged supporter of 

 3

 At the motion to dismiss stage, the Court accepts the Plaintiff’s factual allegations as 

true. See, e.g., United States v. Philip Morris, Inc., 116 F. Supp. 2d 131, 135 (D.D.C. 2000).
3

Bernie Sanders, claims that he contributed $30 to Bernie Sanders’s Presidential campaign,4

donating through ActBlue, a fundraising non-profit. Id. ¶ 2. Mr. Sweigert alleges that 

Defendants orchestrated a hacking and covert funding conspiracy designed to tip the Democratic 

primaries in favor of Hillary Clinton. Id. ¶¶ 43–45. 

First, Mr. Sweigert alleges that the DNC unlawfully favored Hillary Clinton in the 

Democratic primaries by signing a “Joint Funding Agreement,” or “pay-to-play” scheme, 

without donors’ knowledge, amounting to fraud. See id. ¶¶ 47, 60. According to Mr. Sweigert’s 

complaint, “[t]he DNC is the formal governing body for the United States Democratic party.” 

Id. ¶ 21. Its role is to “coordinat[e] strategy in support of Democratic Party candidates for local, 

state, and national” elections. Id. With respect to the Presidential election, “the DNC organizes 

the Democratic National Convention” in order to “nominate and confirm a candidate for 

President.” Id. ¶ 22. At the time of the 2016 Democratic primaries, Deborah Wasserman 

Schultz, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, served as the DNC’s chairperson. Id. ¶ 

23. In its charters and bylaws, Mr. Sweigert alleges, the DNC obliged itself to “financial fidelity 

and impartiality.” Id. ¶ 24. 

Plaintiff claims that in August 2015, the DNC executed an agreement with Hillary for 

America, a not-for-profit affiliated with the Clinton campaign, wherein the DNC ceded

“financial control and substantial management oversight[,] including selection and approval of 

personnel[,] to Hillary For America.” Id. ¶ 27. Plaintiff alleges that the DNC never voluntarily 

disclosed this alleged agreement. Id. ¶ 47. Consequently, Plaintiff claims, donors continued to 

 4 Mr. Sweigert alleges further that ActBlue charges a 3.95% processing fee for each 

contribution. Compl. ¶ 20 (internal quotation marks omitted). However, it is not entirely clear 

whether this processing fee was charged in addition to the alleged $30 contribution or taken from 

the alleged $30 contribution. For the purposes of this analysis, this Court refers to Mr. 

Sweigert’s alleged injury as “the $30” contribution.
4

contribute without knowing that Hillary for America had “financial control and management 

right of refusal . . . over the DNC.” Id.

Aside from the alleged funding agreement, Plaintiff claims that some of the Defendants 

conspired to orchestrate and, in fact, orchestrated a number of hacking operations against the 

DNC. See generally id. ¶¶ 30, 43–65. In particular, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Glen 

Simpson (who is the CEO of Fusion GPS) and Imran Awan conspired to hire professional 

hackers to penetrate the DNC’s computer network. Id. ¶¶ 30, 46. Plaintiff further alleges that

Defendant Imran Awan “engineered a sophisticated email phishing attack against Bernie Sanders 

supporters” using a donation webpage that has a confusingly similar URL to that of the official 

donation site, and that Mr. Awan used the website to “rout[e] donations intended for Progressive 

candidates to bank accounts controlled by [] Wasserman Schultz and/or Imran Awan.” Id. ¶¶ 

44–45. Furthermore, according to Plaintiff, some of the Defendants hacked key congressional 

communications and constituent management systems, such as iConstituent and InterAmerica. 

Id. ¶ 56. Specifically, Mr. Sweigert alleges that Defendants Deborah Wasserman Schultz, Imran 

Awan, Abid Awan, Hina Alvi, Rao Abbas, Haseeb Rana, Jamal Awan, and Omar Awan were 

involved in the hacking and that they accessed private communications through DNC servers. 

Id. Plaintiff further alleges that using this private information, ARMZ Uranium Company, which 

Defendant Podesta Group created, sold nuclear fuel and weapons to foreign countries, including 

Saudi Arabia, to fund Hillary for America. Id. ¶¶ 46, 59. According to Mr. Sweigert, in the 

process, Defendant Podesta Group acted as a foreign agent of the Saudi Arabian government but 

never disclosed this fact to the public. Id. ¶ 46. And Mr. Sweigert’s complaint alleges that 

during the period from February 2016 to October 2016, the Podesta Group illegally transferred 

this information from iConstituent to Defendant Anthony Weiner’s laptops. Id. ¶ 60. 
5

Plaintiff also claims that some Defendants were involved in an illicit scheme involving 

individuals or entities in Pakistan.

5

 Id. ¶ 61. According to Mr. Sweigert, Defendant Imran Awan 

sent iPhones and iPads intended only for congressional use to Pakistan. Id. Mr. Sweigert further 

asserts that Defendants Imran Awan and Omar Awan created fake employee profiles in a U.S. 

House of Representatives Human Resources system. Id. ¶ 62. Defendants Imran Awan and 

Hina Alvi then allegedly sent payments from these fake employee profiles to individuals or 

entities in Pakistan. Id. ¶ 63. Furthermore, Mr. Sweigert alleges that Defendants Imran Awan, 

Hina Alvi, and Rao Abbas participated in “information bidding” in Pakistan, trading or selling 

electronic devices that contained trade secrets belonging to the United States. Id. ¶ 64.

Based on these allegations, Mr. Sweigert filed suit in this Court claiming that Defendants 

committed fraud and breached fiduciary duties owed to Plaintiff and to members of the putative 

classes.

6

 Defendants Haseeb Rana, the DNC, the Podesta Group, Deborah Wasserman Schultz, 

and Huma Abedin move to dismiss the Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 

12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). Defendants’ motions are now ripe for decision.

III. LEGAL STANDARD

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) allows a defendant to move to dismiss a 

complaint, or any portion thereof, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Fed. R. Civ. P. 

12(b)(1). Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, and the law presumes that “a cause 

 5 Plaintiff does not identify in his Complaint any specific individuals in Pakistan to whom 

Defendants Imran Awan and Hina Alvi allegedly transferred funds. Compl. ¶ 62; see generally 

Compl.

6

 Mr. Sweigert proposes four classes: (1) all donors to the Democratic National 

Committee; (2) all donors to Bernie Sanders’s 2016 Presidential campaign from January 1, 2015 

to November 6, 2017; (3) all registered members of the Democratic Party; and (4) all citizens of 

the United States. Compl. ¶ 32, ECF No. 1.
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lies outside this limited jurisdiction. . . .” Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 

375, 377 (1994); see also Gen. Motors Corp. v. EPA, 363 F.3d 442, 448 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (“As a 

court of limited jurisdiction, we begin, and end, with an examination of our jurisdiction.”). In 

view of this presumption, the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing that the court has subject 

matter jurisdiction. Khadr v. United States, 529 F.3d 1112, 1115 (D.C. Cir. 2008). No action on 

behalf of either party can confer subject matter jurisdiction on a federal court because subject 

matter jurisdiction is both a statutory requirement and an Article III constitutional requirement.

See Akinseye v. District of Columbia, 339 F.3d 970, 971 (D.C. Cir. 2003).

When reviewing a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1), a court 

must review the complaint liberally, granting the plaintiff the benefit of all inferences that can be 

derived from the facts alleged. Zaidan v. Trump, 317 F. Supp. 3d 8, 16 (D.D.C. 2018) (quoting 

Barr v. Clinton, 370 F.3d 1196, 1199 (D.C. Cir. 2004)). However, “the Court need not accept 

factual inferences drawn by plaintiffs if those inferences are not supported by facts alleged in the 

complaint, nor must the Court accept plaintiffs’ legal conclusions.” Speelman v. United States, 

461 F. Supp. 2d 71, 73 (D.D.C. 2006). A court has “broad discretion to consider relevant and 

competent evidence” to resolve factual issues raised by a Rule 12(b)(1) motion. Finca Santa 

Elena, Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, 873 F. Supp. 2d 363, 368 (D.D.C. 2012) (citing 5B 

Charles Wright & Arthur Miller, Fed. Prac. & Pro., Civil § 1350 (3d Ed. 2004)); see also AlOwhali v. Ashcroft, 279 F. Supp. 2d 13, 21 (D.D.C. 2003) (explaining that consideration of 

documents outside of pleadings does not convert a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1) into a 

motion for summary judgment).

The D.C. Circuit has instructed that a motion to dismiss for lack of standing constitutes a 

motion under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because “the defect of 
7

standing is a defect in subject matter jurisdiction.” Crow Creek Sioux Tribe v. Brownlee, 331 

F.3d 912, 915–16 (D.C. Cir. 2003); Haase v. Sessions, 835 F.2d 902, 906 (D.C. Cir. 1987); see 

generally Valley Forge Christian Coll. v. Ams. United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 

454 U.S. 464, 475–76 (1982). Accordingly, a lack of standing denotes a lack of subject matter 

jurisdiction, which would support dismissal pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1).

IV. ANALYSIS

Mr. Sweigert brings two claims against Defendants: one for fraud and the other for 

breach of fiduciary duty. Compl. ¶¶ 42–65. Defendants Haseeb Rana, the DNC, the Podesta 

Group, Deborah Wasserman Schultz, and Huma Abedin argue, among other things, that this 

Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because Mr. Sweigert lacks standing to pursue his claims. 

See Def. Rana’s Mem. P&A Supp. Mot. Dismiss Pl.’s Compl. 3–6, ECF No. 20 (“Def. Rana’s 

Mem.”); Def. DNC’s Mem. P&A Supp. Mot. Dismiss Pl.’s Compl. 6–19, ECF No. 21-1 (“Def.

DNC’s Mem.”); Def. Podesta Group’s Mem. P&A Supp. Mot. Dismiss Pl.’s Compl. 7–10, ECF 

No. 23 (“Def. Podesta Group’s Mem.”); Def. Abedin’s Mem. P&A Supp. Mot. Dismiss Pl.’s 

Compl. 7, ECF No. 33 (“Def. Abedin’s Mem.”).

To establish subject matter jurisdiction, a plaintiff must have standing, as governed by 

Article III of the Constitution. See U.S. Const. art. III, § 2. Plaintiffs bear the burden of 

establishing subject matter jurisdiction. Vetcher v. Sessions, 316 F. Supp. 3d 70, 75 (D.D.C.

2018) (citing Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561 (1992)). A party has standing to 

bring suit under Article III of the Constitution only when she has suffered an injury in fact—that 

is, an injury which is concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent—which is traceable to 

defendant’s actions and redressable by the relief sought. U.S. Const. art. III § 2, cl. 1; Clapper v. 

Amnesty Int’l, USA, 568 U.S. 398 (2013); Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561; see also United States v. 
8

Richardson, 418 U.S. 166, 176–77 (1974). Allegations of a speculative or possible future injury 

do not satisfy the requirements of Article III. See Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149, 158 

(1990). Moreover, “[P]laintiffs bear the burden of pleading . . . concrete facts showing that the 

defendant’s actual action has caused the substantial risk of harm.” Clapper, 568 U.S. at 414 n.5. 

Defendants contend that Plaintiff lacks Article III standing to bring his claims.

7

 Def.

Rana’s Mem. 3–6; Def. DNC’s Mem. 6–19; Def. Podesta Group’s Mem. 7–10; Def. Abedin’s 

Mem. 7. As explained below, this Court concludes that Plaintiff has failed to establish subject 

matter jurisdiction over this case. Mr. Sweigert suffered, at most, one legally cognizable injury 

in fact—the $30 he donated to Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign—but this injury is 

not traceable to any of Defendants’ actions, and is therefore not redressable by this Court. See 

Compl. ¶ 2; see, e.g., Resp. Opp. Def. Kim Fritts’ Mot. Dismiss ¶¶ 1, 4, 5, ECF No. 38; Resp. 

Opp. Def. Haseeb Rana’s Mot. Dismiss ¶ 3, ECF No. 39. Thus, this Court grants Defendants’ 

motions to dismiss.8

A. Injury in Fact

Defendants argue that Plaintiff has not suffered a legally cognizable injury in fact that 

would support a finding of standing. See Def. Rana’s Mem. 5; Def. DNC’s Mem. 10–14; Def. 

Podesta Group’s Mem. 7–9; Def. Abedin’s Mem. 7. Plaintiff enumerates, both in his Complaint 

 7 Even though Mr. Sweigert brings a putative class action, he must nevertheless 

demonstrate that he individually has standing to litigate this case. O’Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 

488, 488 (1974) (“If none of the named plaintiffs purporting to represent a class meets the caseor-controversy requirement, none may seek relief on behalf of himself or any other member of 

the class.”); see also Soehnlen v. Fleet Owners Insurance Fund, 844 F.3d 576, 582 (6th Cir. 

2016) (“Plaintiffs are not absolved of their individual obligation to satisfy the injury element of 

Article III just because they allege class claims.”).

8 Because the Court concludes that Mr. Sweigert lacks standing to bring this action, it 

need not address Defendants’ other arguments for dismissal.
9

and in his responses to Defendants’ motions to dismiss, a host of alleged injuries. See infra pp. 

9–10; see, e.g., Resp. Opp. Def. Huma Abedin’s Mot. Dismiss ¶ 4, ECF No. 37 (Resp. Abedin’s 

Mot. Dismiss). This Court concludes that Plaintiff has alleged but one legally cognizable injury 

in fact: the $30 that he alleges he alleges that he donated to Bernie Sanders’s Presidential 

campaign.

Courts have interpreted “injury in fact” to mean an “invasion of a legally protected 

interest which is (a) concrete and particularized . . . and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or 

hypothetical.” Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560–61 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Whitmore 

v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149, 155 (1990) (finding alleged harm to conservationist organization 

associated with danger to wildlife abroad insufficiently concrete to amount to a legally 

cognizable injury in fact). Courts have similarly rejected so-called “taxpayer standing,” labeling 

grievances about actions that affect all citizens equally as “generalized grievances,” which are 

insufficiently particularized to support standing. See, e.g., Becker v. FEC, 230 F.3d 381, 389 (1st 

Cir. 2000) (holding that “harm done to the general public by corruption of the political process is 

not a sufficiently concrete, personalized injury to establish standing” for supporters of a political 

candidate); Gottlieb v. FEC, 143 F.3d 618 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (individual voters lacked standing 

based on alleged injury to ability to influence political process). In Clapper v. Amnesty 

International, the Supreme Court held that an “objectively reasonable likelihood” that a 

defendant will incur a future injury—in that case, that the government would conduct warrantless 

phone-taps of American citizens—did not render an alleged injury sufficiently imminent to 

support standing. Clapper v. Amnesty International, USA, 568 U.S. 398, 401 (2013).
10

Mr. Sweigert has alleged numerous injuries, each of which he claims supports a finding 

of standing to litigate his two causes of action. See Compl. ¶¶ 42–50, 51–65. Specifically, Mr. 

Sweigert contends that:

1. Defendants defrauded Mr. Sweigert and all donors to Democratic candidates when:

(a) Defendant Imran Awan moved data from DNC servers to 

Hillary for America, Compl. ¶ 43, and engineered a phishing 

attack, which routed some, unspecified donations intended for 

Bernie Sanders and other progressive candidates to Defendants 

Imran Awan and Deborah Wasserman Schultz.9

 Id. ¶¶ 44–45.

(b) Defendant the DNC covertly executed a secret “Joint Funding 

Agreement.” Compl. ¶ 47.

(c) The Podesta Group and ARMZ Uranium Company brokered 

deals with at least thirteen foreign countries in 2015 to fund Hillary 

for America. Compl. ¶¶ 46–47. 

2, Defendants breached a fiduciary duty to Mr. Sweigert and to all Democratic donors 

when:

(a) Defendants Deborah Wasserman Schultz, Imran Awan, Abid 

Awan, Hina Alvi, Rao Abbas, Haseeb Rana, Jamal Awan, and 

Omar Awan hacked “key Congressional communication systems 

such as iConstituent and InterAmerica” and otherwise accessed 

private communications through DNC servers and transferred 

other private records illicitly. Compl. ¶¶ 56, 60.

(b) Certain Defendants orchestrated a criminal spy ring out of the 

U.S. House of Representatives, creating an unauthorized email 

profile to covertly transact with individuals in at least twelve 

foreign countries to fund Hillary for America. Compl. ¶¶ 56, 58–

59. Plaintiff contends that this spy ring violated the Rackteer 

Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act. Compl. ¶ 

58.

 9

 Mr. Sweigert does not allege that his own donation was rerouted. See Compl. ¶¶ 2 

(contending that Mr. Sweigert contributed to the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders via 

ActBlue), 45 (asserting that Defendants engineered a phishing scheme, but omitting any 

allegation that Plaintiff’s own donation might have been rerouted through Defendants’ purported 

scheme). 
11

(c) Defendant Imran Awan illicitly sold iPhones and iPads 

intended only for congressional use to Pakistan, Compl. ¶ 61, and 

illicitly brought other electronic devices—including thumb drives, 

hard drives, and laptops with U.S. trade secrets — to Pakistan.

Compl. ¶ 64.

(d) Defendant Imran Awan created fake employees in the U.S. 

House of Representatives database under the label “PeopleSoft,” 

with which to fraudulently receive loans from the Congressional 

Federal Credit Union and send payments to unspecified individuals 

or entities Pakistan. Compl. ¶¶ 62–63.

Plaintiff has advanced in his complaint and in all other documents before the Court only 

one legally cognizable injury in fact: the $30 that he donated to the Bernie Sanders’s 2016 

Presidential Campaign. Compl. ¶ 2. Plaintiff’s loss of $30 is indeed sufficiently concrete,

particularized, and actual to satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement of standing. U.S. Const. art. III 

§ 2, cl. 1; U.S.C.A. § 3730(b)(5)(c). Unlike in Lujan and Clapper, where the potential harm 

associated with danger to species abroad and with phone-tapping American citizens, 

respectively, was either prospective, conjectural, or generalized, the alleged $30 injury incurred 

to Mr. Sweigert occurred in the past and, upon the presentation of evidence, is potentially

demonstrable. Lujan, 504 U.S. at 555; Clapper, 568 U.S. at 420; see also In re U.S. Office of 

Personnel Mgmt. Data Sec. Breach Litig., 266 F. Supp. 3d, 1 18–19. Accordingly, the alleged

$30 injury purportedly incurred is concrete, particularized, and actual, and therefore qualifies as

a legally cognizable injury in fact.

However, all other harms that Plaintiff alleges—including grievances with the political 

process or with the internal workings of the DNC—fail to amount to legally cognizable injuries

in fact because Mr. Sweigert has failed to articulate how any of these allegedly wrongful acts 

harmed him. Compl. ¶ 67; see Ndaba v. Obama, 697 F. Supp. 2d 75, 78 (D.D.C. 2010)

(“[P]laintiffs seeking to bring class action lawsuits ‘must allege and show that they personally 
12

have been injured, not that injury has been suffered by other, unidentified members of the class 

to which they belong and which they purport to represent.”) (quoting Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 

490, 502 (1975); see generally Compl. ¶¶ 21–30. Mr. Sweigert’s claim regarding the DNC’s 

hacking also fails to reflect injury in fact, since Mr. Sweigert alleges no concrete, particularized 

harms associated with any purported hacking or other actions. For example, Mr. Sweigert says 

that Mr. Awan “illegally moved data” and copied “critical information[]” and “critical reports,” 

but Mr. Sweigert does not explain why the purportedly illegal taking of this information might 

have injured him. Compl. ¶ 43. Likewise, Mr. Sweigert claims that Defendants “concocted a 

false narrative” regarding Russia’s responsibility for the hacking and phishing attacks, but he 

offers no indication of what particularized, concrete harm he suffered due to these actions. 

Indeed, Mr. Sweigert makes no allegation that information concerning him was taken. 

Moreover, Mr. Sweigert cites broadly the “subver[sion]” of “free speech and debate,” the 

undermining of “free and fair elections,” and “irreparable harm to the legislative processes,” see 

Compl. ¶ 56–57, 60, but these purported injuries are textbook generalized grievances that are not 

actionable. Similarly, Defendants’ alleged “[m]ishandling [of] phones and laptops intended for 

Congressional Members” has no apparent connection to Mr. Sweigert, and certainly does not 

suffice to show that Mr. Sweigert may have been injured by Defendants’ conduct. Id. ¶ 61.

Moreover, Plaintiff does not allege any future, imminent injury in fact which would 

sustain a claim for damages, In re U.S. Office of Personnel Mgmt. Data Sec. Breach Litig., 266 

F. Supp. 3d at 18–19, or injunctive relief. See City of L.A. v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 105 (1983)

(explaining that each individual claim must be redressable by the relief sought); Compl. ¶¶ 21–

30, 42–50. Finally, donating to an organization does not confer to a donee the right to litigate on 

behalf of an organization, Orient v. Linus Pauling Instit. of Sci. & Med., 936 F. Supp. 704, 706–
13

07 (D. Ariz. 1996), nor does it create a legally enforceable contract. Berg v. Obama, 574 F. 

Supp. 2d 509, 529 (E.D. Pa. 2008) (holding that “statements of principle and intent” in political 

platform are “not [legally] “enforceable promises under contract law”). And when Plaintiff 

alleges harm done to “all citizens of the United States,” this constitutes by definition a 

generalized grievance, which cannot support standing. Becker, 230 F.3d at 389; Richardson, 418 

U.S. at 166–673; Gottlieb, 143 F.3d at 618. In sum, Plaintiff has suffered only one legally 

cognizable injury in fact: the $30 that he allegedly donated to Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential 

campaign. Therefore, this Court will consider causation of and redressability for only this one

alleged injury.

B. Causation

Plaintiff claims that Defendants caused his injury in fact—that is, his loss of $30 in the 

form of an alleged donation to the Bernie Sanders campaign. See, e.g., Compl. ¶ 69; Resp. Opp. 

Def. Abedin’s Mot. Dismiss ¶ 4. However, this Court concurs with Defendants’ contention that 

Plaintiff has failed to draw a plausible causal link between Defendants’ actions and Plaintiff’s 

only legally cognizable injury in fact. As some of the Defendants argue, Mr. Sweigert’s 

“Complaint is devoid of allegations that Plaintiff donated—or took any other actions—in 

reliance on anything that Defendants said or did,” and it fails to “isolate a single, identifiable act 

by any Defendant that breached the asserted duty owed to him or the asserted class members,” 

even assuming there exists a fiduciary relationship. Def. DNC’s Mem. 14–15. Accordingly, 

Plaintiff fails to demonstrate causation required to support standing.

To establish causation, a plaintiff must show that it is plausible that defendants 

proximately caused plaintiff’s injury in fact. See Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 

545–46 (2007) (the Court’s “[a]sking for plausible grounds . . . simply calls for enough fact to 
14

raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of illegal agreement.”); Arpaio 

v. Obama, 797 F.3d 11, 19 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (citing Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560–61). That is, there 

must be “a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of—the injury must 

be fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant, and not the result of the independent

action of some third party not before the court.” Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154, 167 (1997).

According to Plaintiff’s complaint, he donated $30 to Bernie Sanders’s individual 

presidential campaign—not to the DNC or to any other Defendant in this matter—through 

ActBlue, a fundraising non-profit. Compl. ¶ 2. ActBlue appears to operate independently of the 

DNC. See Compl. ¶¶ 2, 20.10 And Plaintiff’s complaint does not explain the exact relationship 

between the Bernie Sanders campaign and the DNC or any other Defendants in this action. See 

generally Compl. Plaintiff contends that “$228,000,000 was given by Bernie Sanders donors 

indirectly or directly to the DNC” from October 2015 to June 2016. Resp. Opp. Def. Abedin’s 

Mot. Dismiss ¶ 4. He appears to theorize that the DNC’s alleged funneling of donations in such 

a way as to privilege Hillary Clinton’s candidacy amounts to fraud because donors would not 

have contributed to Sanders had they known about the purported “Joint Funding Agreement” and 

other purported wrongful actions by Defendants. See id.

However, because Mr. Sweigert made his alleged donation through ActBlue to the Bernie 

Sanders campaign, any loss that he may have suffered is not traceable to any Defendants. See

Abulhawa v. U.S. Dep’t of Treas., 239 F. Supp. 3d 24, 33–35 (D.D.C. 2017). Even taking as true 

the claim that the DNC diverted donations intended for the Sanders campaign to the Clinton 

campaign, Plaintiff has not alleged that his donation went to the DNC and was diverted. To 

 10 As noted above, Plaintiff does not contend that any of the Defendants appropriated his 

$30 contribution. Rather, he notes only that he donated to Bernie Sanders’s Presidential 

campaign through ActBlue. See Compl. ¶¶ 2, 45.
15

establish causation, the “connection between the injury and the conduct complained of must be 

attributable to the defendant, and not the result of the independent action of some third party not 

before the court.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Accordingly, the Court 

finds that Mr. Sweigert has failed to establish a causal link between his alleged injury and 

Defendants’ conduct, and, thus, he lacks standing to bring this suit.

C. Redressability

Finally, Plaintiff enumerates a number of forms of relief that he claims would address his

purported injuries in fact. See Compl. ¶¶ 66–70. First, Mr. Sweigert seeks a judicially-mandated 

enjoinment of the aforementioned “spy ring activity in the U.S. House of Representatives.” Id. ¶

66. Second, Mr. Sweigert seeks declaratory and injunctive relief with regard to Defendant 

DNC’s alleged violation of its own Charter and/or Bylaws. Id. ¶ 67. Third, Plaintiff requests 

compensatory damages in the amount of $300 million, and fourth, punitive damages in the 

amount of $600 million. Id. ¶ 69–70. This Court concludes that Plaintiff’s one legally 

cognizable injury in fact—his alleged loss of a $30 donation to the Bernie Sanders campaign—is 

not redressable by the relief sought.

The third requirement for a plaintiff to demonstrate standing is redressability: a plaintiff’s

relief sought must actually remedy the plaintiff’s injury. See, e.g., Clapper, 568 U.S. at 414 

(holding that it must be likely, not merely speculative, that injury will be redressed by a 

favorable decision); see also Lyons, 461 U.S. at 105 (each individual claim must be redressable

by the relief sought). Whereas causation focuses “on whether a particular party is appropriate,” 

redressability centers on whether the proposed forum is appropriate. Fla. Audubon Soc. v.

Bentsen, 94 F.3d 658, 664 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (emphasis added). 
16

Mr. Sweigert first requests injunctions related to all of the activity involved in the alleged 

conspiracy; this remedy, however, does not redress the $30 that Plaintiff allegedly expended 

when donating to Bernie Sanders’s campaign. Lyons, 461 U.S. at 105; see also Doe v. Rumsfeld, 

683 F.3d 390 (D.C. Cir. 2012). Plaintiff further seeks an order enjoining the alleged “spy ring” 

activity;11 however, since Mr. Sweigert has not alleged any cognizable injury resulting from such 

activity, this injunction also would not address Plaintiff’s alleged injury. See Compl. ¶ 66. Next, 

Plaintiff seeks declaratory relief that the DNC violated its own charter and/or bylaws. Id. ¶ 67.

That form of relief is not available — a proposition for which there is much precedent—because, 

as explained above, Mr. Sweigert’s one legally cognizable injury in fact bares no connection to 

the DNC. Plaintiff’s request for damages cannot redress his alleged loss because, as explained 

above, it is not alleged that Defendants caused this loss. Because Plaintiff has advanced only one 

legally cognizable injury in fact, and that purported injury cannot be plausibly traced to any of 

Defendants’ actions and is therefore not redressable, Plaintiff lacks Article III standing to bring 

this action.12

 11 Mr. Sweigert argues that plaintiffs may seek civil remedies for criminal conspiracies 

under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–

68; Resp. Opp. Def. John Podesta’s Mot. Dismiss ¶¶ 1–5; see also Compl. ¶ 58. But Mr. 

Sweigert’s complaint does not bring any civil RICO claim. See Compl. ¶ 58 (“request[ing] for 

RICO [certain] referral letter or investigative documents”). Moreover, even if Mr. Sweigert’s 

complaint had included such a claim, his allegations fall well short of stating a plausible civil 

RICO claim. “To do so, a plaintiff must show that a RICO predicate offense was the proximate 

cause of injury to his or her business or property.” Cheeks v. Fort Myer Constr. Corp., 728 F. 

App’x 12, 13 (D.C. Cir. 2018). Here, Mr. Sweigert asserts no predicate act of fraud directed 

toward him. See id. (noting that plaintiff’s allegations constituted mere “generalized allegations 

of violent criminal acts” insufficient to plausibly allege a predicate violation of RICO). 

Furthermore, Mr. Sweigert fails to make any argument regarding how Defendants might have 

proximately caused his purported injury.

12 Even if Plaintiff did have standing, it appears that he has failed to adequately plead 

either of his claims—fraud and breach of fiduciary duty—pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil 

Procedure 8, 9, and 12(b)(6) against any of the Defendants. Fed. R. Civ. P. 8, 9, 12(b)(6); see 

Compl. ¶¶ 42–50. Fraud is associated with a heightened pleading requirement. Fed. R. Civ. P. 
17

Finally, pursuant to Rule 12(h)(3), which provides that “if the court determines at any 

time that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction, [it] must dismiss the action,” this order disposes of 

Plaintiff’s Complaint against all Defendants, not merely those that have responded to the 

Complaint. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3). As explained above, none of the Defendants that Plaintiff 

has named, including those served and those yet to be served, bear any causal connection to the 

$30 loss that Plaintiff allegedly incurred. See supra pp. 13–14. This enables, and indeed 

requires, the Court to dismiss the action in toto.

IV. CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, defendants’ motions to dismiss (ECF Nos. 20, 21, 23, 24, 33, 

50) are GRANTED. Pursuant to Rule 12(h)(3), this order applies to all Defendants, not just 

those that have responded. In light of this resolution of Defendants’ motions, the Court DENIES 

AS MOOT Plaintiff’s “Request for Oral Argument on Opposition to Podesta et al Defendant’s 

Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint” (ECF No. 41), Plaintiff’s “Motion for Partial Summary 

Judgment for Defendant Glenn Simpson” (ECF No. 47), and Plaintiff’s “Motion for Substituted 

Service on Defendant Anthony Weiner” (ECF No. 42). The Court also DENIES AS MOOT

 

9, 12(b)(6); Stradford v. Zurich, No. 02 Civ.3628, 2002 WL 31819215 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 13, 

2002); see also Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570; Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009). Plaintiff 

neglects to plead fraud committed by any of the Defendants with particularity, failing to provide 

the time, place, and circumstance of the allegedly fraudulent actions. Compl. ¶¶ 21–30, 42–50. 

Instead, Plaintiff has offered only broad and conclusory allegations of conspiracy. Id.

Moreover, Plaintiff fails to adequately allege, much less show to be plausible, a claim for

breach of fiduciary duty. Mr. Sweigert has not established the existence of a fiduciary 

relationship between himself and any of the named Defendants, has not shown that Defendants 

breached any such relationship, and has not demonstrated that such a breach proximately caused 

Plaintiff’s injuries. See, e.g., Armenian Genocide Museum & Memorial, Inc. v. Cafesjian Family 

Found., Inc., 595 F. Supp. 2d 110, 116 (D.D.C. 2009); see also Davis v. United States, 495 U.S. 

472, 479 (1990) (holding that there exists “no legally enforceable relationship between the 

recipient of the donated funds and the qualified donee”); Magee v. Am. Inst. of Certified Pub. 

Accountants, 245 F. Supp. 3d 106, 116 (D.D.C. 2017) (professional membership organizations 

owe no fiduciary duty to their members).
18

Plaintiff’s Motion for Substituted Service on Defendant Imran Awan (ECF No. 35) because, per 

the docket sheet in this case, Mr. Awan has now been served. See Return of Service/Affidavit, 

ECF No. 48. An order consistent with this Memorandum Opinion is separately and 

contemporaneously issued.

Dated: September 20, 2018 RUDOLPH CONTRERAS

United States District Judge