Foerster v. U.S. Department of Justice — First Amended Complaint Concerning FBI Records Relating to Dr. Bradley Foerster and Russia-Gate
On November 14, 2025, Dr. Bradley Foerster filed the First Amended Complaint in Foerster v. U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-03277-CJN, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The action seeks disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of FBI records concerning Dr. Foerster.
The case grew out of a request Dr. Foerster had made nearly three years earlier. On January 29, 2023, he asked the FBI and Department of Justice for his FBI file, including any complaints, investigations, and reports concerning him. DOJ acknowledged the request two days later. When no substantive response followed, Dr. Foerster appealed.
What followed gave the request a very different significance. On May 16, 2023, the FBI advised Dr. Foerster that it had located approximately 514 potentially responsive pages. Later FBI correspondence identified approximately five minutes of audio media as well and stated that the potentially responsive pages dated from 2018–2021.
By September 2025, the FBI records had still not been produced and congressional correspondence continued to reference a September 2028 processing timeline. Dr. Foerster then narrowed his request to Russia-Gate-related material, specifically identifying statements he says Dr. Paul Cronin, then a University of Michigan colleague, made in 2016 concerning Russian interference in the presidential election and alleged Russian kompromat concerning Donald Trump. The First Amended Complaint alleges that the FBI subsequently confirmed that the 514-page file concerned Russia-Gate.
That development connected the FOIA dispute to events that Dr. Foerster says began years earlier. The complaint alleges that in July–August 2016, Dr. Cronin told Dr. Foerster and Duaa Altaee about a Russian scheme concerning the 2016 presidential election and Russian kompromat concerning Donald Trump. According to the complaint, those statements came months before the Steele Dossier became public.
The complaint also documents the efforts that followed to report and preserve that account, including communications with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the 2018 federal litigation against Dr. Cronin, a November 2018 request for assistance from the University of Michigan, and later communications with federal officials.
The First Amended Complaint thus places the 2016 Russia-Gate-related statements and the later discovery of a substantial FBI record into the same federal-court record, while asking the Court to compel DOJ to process and disclose the requested FBI materials.
The opening pages of the First Amended Complaint are reproduced below. The complete filing and Exhibits A–X are available through the full-document viewer below.
First Amended Complaint filed in federal FBI Russia-Gate FOIA litigation.
Complaint references November 2018 notice to the University of Michigan reporting contemporaneous with the underlying events.
Complete First Amended Complaint and Exhibits A–X available for viewing below.
Related Documentary Record
The First Amended Complaint brings together earlier records concerning the Russia-Gate-related statements attributed to Dr. Paul Cronin and the subsequent federal-court record concerning disclosure of the FBI materials.
Earlier Civil Litigation — Dr. Bradley Foerster
Foerster v. Cronin — Selected Responses by Dr. Paul Cronin Concerning “Nick,” Medical Billing, and Russia-Gate-Related Statements
Related Civil Litigation — Dr. Myria Petrou
Dr. Myria Petrou v. City of Ann Arbor et al. — Selected Responses by Dr. Paul Cronin and Dr. Aine Kelly Concerning “Nick,” Medical Billing, and Russia-Gate-Related Statements
Subsequent Federal-Court Record — Sworn Affidavits
Foerster v. U.S. Department of Justice — Sworn Affidavits of Dr. Bradley Foerster and Dr. Myria Petrou Concerning Dr. Paul Cronin as the Source of Russia-Gate-Related Statements
Subsequent Federal-Court Record — DOJ/FBI Production
DOJ Joint Status Report Identifying FBI Records (522 Pages and Audio)
Federal court filing documenting the FBI-record production in the FOIA litigation.
Selected Reporting
- Bradley Foerster Submits 140-Exhibit, 1,121-Page Documentary Chronology to FBI for Supervisory Review of the Investigation Involving Dr. Bradley Foerster, Dr. Myria Petrou, and Duaa Altaee
- From One FBI File to a Legislative Proposal: Peter and Maria Foerster Ask Senator Van Hollen's Office and Congressman Jamie Raskin to Consider a Uniform Administrative Framework for Federal Investigations
- Eva Feldman Documentary Chronology: 139 Exhibits on NIH R01NS082304, University Proceedings, and Federal Investigation — No Response Received
- Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou Send Ann Arbor Officials Documentary Chronology on AAPD and Related Federal Investigations — No Response Received
- Timothy Lynch Documentary Chronology: 63 Exhibits on University of Michigan Office of General Counsel, University Investigations, and Law Enforcement — No Response Received
- Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou Documentary Chronology: 8 Exhibits Document More Than Two Years of Efforts to Trace Bank of Ann Arbor's $1.4 Million Sheriff's Sale Credit Bid — No Response Received
Brad Foerster, MD PhD
Brad Foerster is a FOIA advocate documenting requests, transparency disputes, and accountability investigations involving public agencies, universities, police oversight, and Russia-Gate related inquiries. His work compiles original documents, timelines, and analysis of public records and institutional responses. Brad is also a board-certified radiologist, author of Town & Gown, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles. Brad lives in Potomac, Maryland with his family and is a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society and the Takoma Park U.S. & World History Book Club.