- Former AG Sean Reyes seeks dismissal of a $1 billion lawsuit by Rubicon.
- Reyes claims prosecutorial immunity, denying personal involvement in alleged misconduct.
- Rubicon accuses Reyes of fabricating charges to boost his anti-trafficking initiatives' funding.
SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes wants a $1 billion lawsuit filed against him by a company he had previously charged with labor trafficking dismissed.
On Wednesday, Reyes filed his lengthy response to the lawsuit filed in October by Rubicon Contracting LLC, and in doing so filed a motion asking for the case to be dismissed.
Rubicon and its owners, Rudy Larsen and Jena Larsen, have filed a federal complaint against Reyes; Leo Lucey, Reyes' chief of the criminal investigations division; investigator Michael Adam Jeter; and deputy attorney general Kaytlin Virginia Beckett, for alleged abuse of power.
The lawsuit claims the team "conspired to manufacture bogus criminal charges to falsely inflate the public perception of the severity of human trafficking in Utah. Why? To try and justify the existence of and secure funding for the SECURE Strike Force," which the suit says was Reyes' "pet project."
In November 2023, the founders and five executive members of Rubicon Contracting were charged with multiple counts each of aggravated human trafficking by the Utah Attorney General's Office. But not long after a contentious court hearing in December of 2024, during which 2nd District Judge Rita Cornish questioned prosecutors on whether the case was "vastly overcharged," the charges were dismissed at the request of the attorney general's office because of a pending federal investigation.
In his response, Reyes says the Rubicon lawsuit against him should be dismissed because "the claims fail on the grounds of absolute prosecutorial immunity, qualified immunity, and failure to plausibly plead direct involvement, supervisory liability, and constitutional violations."
The motion to dismiss contends that all four defendants have either qualified and/or prosecutorial immunity.
"The complaint does its best to smear prosecutor Beckett and demonize her actions in the state criminal case against plaintiffs. But even if that extreme rhetoric is assumed to be true at this stage of the proceedings, all claims alleged against her fail as a matter of law under the doctrine of absolute prosecutorial immunity," the motion states.
Reyes and his team further note that for more than 50 years the U.S. Supreme Court "has recognized that prosecutors are absolutely immune from liability."
"The complaint reads as a sweeping critique of the former attorney general's priorities and public profile and momentarily captured the attention of the local press upon its filing. But (the federal statute cited by Rubicon) is not a vehicle for imposing personal liability on high-ranking officials based on policy preferences, alleged political motives, or generalized supervisory authority," according to the motion.
Rubicon's lawsuit does not suggest that Reyes "was personally or directly involved" in obtaining arrest or search warrants against the company or its owners, the motion to dismiss states.
"Simply put, the complaint fails to allege that Reyes was directly or personally involved in any of the alleged misconduct underlying the four (federal statute) claims herein. Rather, the complaint's allegations against Reyes are generalized and aimed at his supervisory status as attorney general, alleging that he championed anti-trafficking initiatives, sought positive publicity, and benefited politically."
And regardless, "he would be entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity for all such allegations and claims," the motion states.
The status of the federal investigation into Rubicon remained unknown as of Thursday, although the motion filed Wednesday notes that according to court documents, federal investigators "seized a large amount of 'property involved in investigation of Rubicon previously seized and held as evidence by the Utah Attorney General's Office'" in January of 2025.
