Mark Irvin Ritchie v. Securities and Exchange Commission

I. Background

On August 1, 2022, Plaintiffs Mark Irvin Ritchie and Patrick Jevon Johnson (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) initiated this action against the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and several individual officers in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. (Dkt. 1 (“Compl.”).) The Complaint principally alleges the SEC and its officers violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) by filing a “frivolous” civil enforcement action against Mr. Johnson in SEC v. Johnson et al., No. 2:20-cv-08985-FWS- DFM. (Compl. at 3-18.) On August 17, 2022, this case was transferred to the Central District of California and assigned to Judge Wu. (Dkt. 6.) On December 20, 2022, Judge Wu ordered Plaintiffs to show cause why this case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute by serving the Summons and Complaint. (Dkt. 24 (“First Order to Show Cause”).) On January 3, 2023, Mr. Ritchie filed Proof of Service stating he served Defendants by mailing a copy of the Summons and Complaint to the SEC’s Los Angeles Office and emailing copies to undisclosed email addresses. (See Dkt. 25.) On January 23, 2023, Plaintiffs issued…