(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a second Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. State Department seeking records about the department’s failure to designate Jimmy Wilgus, an American citizen sentenced to 12.5 years in a Russian penal colony, as wrongfully detained (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:26-cv-03551)). The lawsuit seeks records under Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s leadership.
Wilgus’ family alleges that he was convicted on false charges based on a coerced confession and fabricated evidence. On November 7, 2016, Wilgus, an American musician living in Russia with his Russian wife, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure in an area in Russia that Wilgus’s family said he has never visited, according to a March 31, 2023, report by CBS’s WUSA9.
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the State Department failed to respond to a July 22, 2026, FOIA request for:
All records related to the detention of American citizen James Vincent Wilgus in Russia. This request includes, but is not limited to, all records related to the proposed designation of Mr. Wilgus’ detention as “wrongful” as defined by the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act and all related records of communication between any official or employee of the Department of State and any other individual or entity.
Judicial Watch in June 2024 filed an initial FOIA lawsuit against the Biden State Department seeking similar records through 2024.
Since 2016, according to the Free Jimmy Wilgus website, Wilgus’s health has deteriorated and he has been transferred to several different prisons.
On October 5, 2026, New Jersey state Sen. Owen Henry introduced Senate Joint Resolution 160, urging the U.S. Department of State to secure Wilgus’ release by enforcing the Levinson Act.
A CBS news report titled “The Forgotten American” details:
Jimmy Wilgus, a musician from New Jersey, was in Russia in 2016 working on a movie soundtrack with a Russian film director when he was ambushed and thrown into a van…. His parents, Jim and Bella Wilgus, say their son was helping his stepdaughter get into a taxi just moments before he was grabbed…. The Wilgus family say Jimmy was forced to sign confession papers for a crime he did not commit.… The family says witnesses testified claiming Jimmy committed a crime in an area of Russia he had never even visited…. Jimmy Wilgus was sentenced to 12 years in prison after a reportedly closed-door trial, where his mother claims the [U.S.] embassy was not even allowed to attend.
“The State Department has failed to provide records about its handling of the Jimmy Wilgus case,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “We are suing again to find out what the government knows about this American’s imprisonment and why he remains without a wrongful-detention designation as reports of his deteriorating health continue.”
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