Ameriprise Advisor Arrested on Jan. 6 Riot Charges

An Amerprise Financial advisor from New Jersey faces felony and misdemeanor charges related to his actions when the U.S. Capitol was breached on Jan. 6, 2021.

Federal prosecutors charged Lee A. Giobbie, 40, of Eastampton, in a criminal complaint filed in Washington, D.C., with felony offenses of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding.

Giobbie, arrested last week in New Jersey, also is charged with misdemeanor offenses, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

“His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election,” the U.S. attorney’s office for District of Columbia said in a press release.

A judge ordered an unescured bail bond set at $100,000, according to New Jersey District Court court records. An article in the Courier Post newspaper indicated he was released after that hearing last Tuesday. His arrest came more than a year after online amateur sleuths had identified him by his Philadelphia Eagles knit cap, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s BrokerCheck indicates Giobbie has worked as a broker and financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial in Haddon Heights, New Jersey, since 2017.

Ameriprise spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to email messages Monday seeking comment. InvestmentNews quoted an Ameriprise spokeswoman as saying after the indictment that the company suspended Giobbie and was investigating the matter.

Giobbie’s lawyer, Hope Lefeber, didn’t immediately respond to email and phone messages Monday from ThinkAdvisor seeking comment. InvestmentNews had quoted Lefeber as saying that while Giobbie apparently was present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he had not engaged in subversive activities nor been destructive nor done anything since that day.

The publication quoted her as saying he had offered a voluntary surrender and that authorities issued a search warrant for his phone.

Giobbie was identified on open-source video as present among other rioters near a line of bike rack barricades established on the U.S. Capitol’s East Front on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Giobbie wore a black leather jacket, a green-knitted Eagles stocking cap, blue jeans, white and gray sneakers, black gloves and a black backpack, and carried a white and red bullhorn, the release says.

Giobbie can be heard in an open-source video repeatedly shouting, “Move the gates!” before the bike rack barricades in this area were breached, the release says, citing court documents. Video footage then captured Giobbie walking toward other rioters as they were violently pushed against the bike rack barricades and the police. He repeatedly stated, “We’re going in,” and “The gates have been breached,” prosecutors allege.

After other rioters had pushed past police, Giobbie moved a barricade and entered a Capitol grounds area that had been cordoned off and restricted from public access, according to prosecutors.

He then walked by police in riot gear and was one of the first rioters to the Capitol building’s central steps as police fell back and formed a new defensive line. Giobbie then turned, faced the crowd, shouted “Stop the steal” through a bullhorn, and led chants of “USA” on the central steps, according to the prosecutors’ statement.

He then faced police on the steps and shouted, “Push, push, push, push,” while standing one row back from other rioters who were pushing against the police line. Additionally, Giobbie can be seen in an open-source video pushing against other rioters who were, in turn, pushing against the police line, and then rushed by the police line toward the Rotunda doors after the police line broke and a huge mass of rioters rushed up the central steps, prosecutors say.

Near the Rotunda doors, Giobbie shouted into the bullhorn, “We need something to break the door down!,” according to prosecutors. During a confrontation with police outside the doors, a U.S. Capitol Police officer is seen grabbing Giobbie’s left arm, then Giobbie pushed the officer’s arm away and used his left forearm to push against the officer’s riot shield, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Giobbie was among the first rioters to enter the Capitol via the Rotunda doors within minutes after other rioters breached it, aggressively pushing his way through the doors as police were actively trying to defend it, the prosectutors say.

Prosecutors also say that once he was in the Capitol, Giobbie made his way to the Small Senate Rotunda, and was briefly detained by a police officer in a hallway. He then walked to the northwest side of the building and exited through the Senate wing door, leading to the Northwest courtyard, they say.

In addition to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section is prosecuting the case, which is being investigated by the FBI’s Newark and Washington field offices.

Images from open source video and Facebook presented in federal complaint.