Capitol Rioter's Legal Fund May Be a Scam, Jan. 6 Defendant Demands Answers

A legal fund established to help individuals charged in connection to the January 6, 2021, riot at the United States Capitol building is facing scrutiny from one of those defendants.

More than 1,100 Americans have been charged for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 riot, when a group of former President Donald Trump's supporters violently protested the 2020 presidential election results, allegedly to block Congress from certifying then-President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

James DeLisco Beeks, a Broadway actor who was charged and acquitted on charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and civil disorder in connection to the riot, raised questions about the "J6 Legal Fund" set up by fellow defendant Edward Jacob Lang in a series of social media posts Thursday morning.

Beeks alleged he reached out to the fund for financial assistance amid his legal battle but did not hear back from him, adding that he has heard "reports that many J6ers are going through similar issues with this fund."

"I offered to help @JakeLangJ6 win his J6 case back in February/march 2023, like I did, but as soon as I asked for financial help though the J6 legal fund, because I was/am in dire need he disappeared and I never heard from him again," he wrote in a post to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The fund, hosted on the fundraising website GiveSendGo, has raised more than $305,000 and has a goal of $500,000. It states that its goal is to pay for "constitutional private attorneys," rather than "DC liberal public defender[s]," for those engaged in Jan. 6 legal battles. The fund pledges "100% transparency" and that all donated funds will go directly to defendants and their families.

Lang, who has been charged with several crimes including obstruction of an official proceeding and is being held in jail, has not commented on the allegations. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Newsweek reached out to Lang's organization J6Truth for comment via email.

His attorney Norm Pattis told Newsweek he has "no idea about the legal fund."

Beeks wrote that his issue is not necessarily with Lang, but that "his handlers may not be as forthcoming as is publicly reported." He noted Lang may not be aware "that whoever is handling this fund for J6ers may be grifting us all in this matter.

"I am sympathetic to his situation, and don't want to diminish his plight, as he is in jail and held without due process and that is unconscionable, unconstitutional, and I hope he is freed," he said.

He urged for the fund's handlers to release a list of all Jan. 6 defendants it has supported and to share how he can receive support from it, as he is "struggling to climb out of this financial hole that this situation has put me & us in unnecessarily."