Former Rittenhouse attorney Lin Wood wants $2M bail back

Pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood, who previously served on Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense team, is requesting that a foundation get back the $2 million it raised to post bail for the 18-year-old charged with fatally shooting two Wisconsin protesters last year.

In a letter sent to Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder, dated Sept. 17, local attorney Xavier Solis requested that $2 million “be returned” to the Fightback Foundation, a Texas nonprofit formed by Wood and fellow attorney John Pierce. 

Soils wrote the letter on behalf of  the Fightback Foundation. 

The foundation previously launched a campaign to raise money to meet Rittenhouse’s bail after the teenager, who was 17 at the time of the civil unrest in Kenosha, Wis., last summer, was arrested. Rittenhouse was charged with several crimes, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide and attempted first-degree homicide. 

Solis wrote in the letter, which was shared on Twitter by Rittenhouse’s social media team, that the funds raised on behalf of Rittenhouse “were transferred by the Fightback Foundation to the Pierce Bainbridge Law Firm’s trust account and paid by attorney John Pierce” on behalf of the foundation. 

Because Pierce has since stepped down from the foundation, Wood and his nonprofit group are asking that the $2 million “be returned to the Fightback Foundation” if Rittenhouse is acquitted of all charges. 

Money makes people do silly things.

While we’re busting our humps trying to raise money and see Kyle acquitted, Lin Wood is sending letters to the court DURING Kyle’s hearing to demand $2M in donations FOR KYLE be given to HIM.

Lin Wood…keeping it classy as always. pic.twitter.com/Uic8xZD8HM

— Kyle Rittenhouse Defense Fund (@freekyleusa) September 21, 2021

Under Wisconsin law, bail is required to be returned within 30 days to whoever posted it if a defendant is acquitted. 

Should Rittenhouse be found guilty, the judge could order fees and any other additional restitution to be given to the families of the men allegedly killed by Rittenhouse, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

The Rittenhouse family account tweeted Tuesday, “Money makes people do silly things,” adding, “While we’re busting our humps trying to raise money and see Kyle acquitted, Lin Wood is sending letters to the court DURING Kyle’s hearing to demand $2M in donations FOR KYLE be given to HIM.” 

“Lin Wood…keeping it classy as always,” the tweet added. 

Wood previously left Rittenhouse’s defense team to work on cases aiming to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and Rittenhouse’s family fired Pierce in February, according to the Journal Sentinel. 

The family has since accused Wood and Pierce of diverting money raised for Rittenhouse’s defense fund to be used for other means. 

The Hill has reached out to Solis and the Fightback Foundation for comment.

Rittenhouse’s charges stem from his alleged actions at protests in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who ultimately survived but suffered injuries that left him paralyzed.