Sherven v. Central Intelligence Agency

• Court: District Court, District of Columbia
• Decided: May 16, 2023
• Docket: Civil Action No. 2023-1292
• Status: Published

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

MATTHEW J. SHERVEN, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 23-01292 (UNA) ) CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE ) AGENCY et al. ) ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Plaintiff, appearing pro se, has filed a Complaint, ECF No. 1, and an application to proceed

in forma pauperis, ECF No. 2. The Court will grant the application and dismiss this action

pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) (requiring immediate dismissal of a case upon a

determination that the complaint is frivolous).

Plaintiff is a resident of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, who has sued the CIA. He alleges:

In November 2019 the Plaintiff reported a child pornography video the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In response the CIA began conducting a psychological operation to get rid of the Plaintiff extra-judicially by driving him insane with mind-control and mind-reading satellites, to force him into a mental hospital. As a part of this psychological operation, the CIA recorded the Plaintiff’s train of thought, with a mind-reading satellite. Then the CIA went around to video game companies and had them insert audio clips of the Plaintiff’s thoughts into the soundtracks of their video games, to harass the Plaintiff. One such company was [co-defendant] Bay12Games. Sometime in 2022 the CIA had Bay12Games insert audio clips, of the Plaintiff’s train of thought, forcibly taken from the Plaintiff’s brain, into the soundtrack of the video game “Dwarf Fortress”.

Compl. at 1-2. Plaintiff seeks $32 billion in relief. Id. at 2. Complaints premised on fantastic or delusional scenarios or supported wholly by

allegations lacking “an arguable basis either in law or in fact” may be dismissed as frivolous.

Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989). The instant complaint satisfies this standard and

therefore is dismissed. A separate order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.

_________/s/______________ CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER Date: May 16, 2023 United States District Judge