Proud Boys leaders found guilty of 'seditious conspiracy' in Jan. 6 trial

Proud Boy chairman Enrique Tarrio
(Image credit: Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

More than two years after members of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, jurors on Thursday found four of the organization's top figures guilty of some of the most serious convictions stemming from the riot to date, including the rarely prosecuted crime of "seditious conspiracy."

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, along with chapter leaders Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Ethan Nordean, were each convicted on sedition charges for their respective roles in helping organize and execute the 2021 attack. A fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, was found guilty of obstructing Congress. The seditious conspiracy verdicts join a handful of such convictions the Justice Department has won against leaders of militia organizations for helping plan and carry out the Jan. 6 insurrection, including the conviction of Oath Keepers founder and leader Stuart Rhodes in November.

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.