Aggressive Advocacy When It Matters Most
When an American is wrongfully held abroad, no family should have to face the system alone.
Since 2013, our founder has worked alongside families learning a process they never expected to face — the press, the messaging, and the machinery of government — so they can keep their attention on the person they are trying to bring home. We do not negotiate releases; that work belongs to the government. What we do is help a family stay heard, prepared, and steady through the longest days of their lives.
Advocacy, not theatrics.
How we help families
Every case is different, and almost all of our work is private. In general, families come to us early — often in the first frightening days — and we help them understand what they are facing and where their voice matters most.
We work in English and, where it helps, in a family’s first language.
- Get oriented. What the designation process is, who in government does what, and what a family can and cannot control.
- Decide on the press — carefully. When public attention helps a case and when it doesn’t, and how to speak in a way that serves your loved one.
- Carry the load. Statements, interviews, and the day-to-day, so the family can focus on each other.
- Stay the course. These cases are long. We are there for the duration, not the news cycle.
Case work
A selection of cases that are part of the public record. Many others are not, and never will be.
Marine veteran Trevor Reed was arrested in Moscow in 2019 and sentenced to nine years on charges his family and the U.S. government rejected. We worked with the Reed family for nearly three years, building a public campaign that refused to let his name fade — demonstrations in his hometown of Fort Worth and across from the White House, a steady presence in the national press, and, in 2022, a meeting between Trevor’s parents and the President.
Trevor came home in a prisoner exchange in April 2022. The campaign helped change the political calculus around bringing wrongfully detained Americans home — and a great deal of what followed was built on it.
Family spokesperson & campaign strategy
In the newsThe Washington Post · Christian Science Monitor
A U.S. Navy veteran, James Frisvold spent roughly thirteen years in a Mexican prison before his release in 2023, in an effort carried out with the late Gov. Bill Richardson. His is the case ABC News followed for the profile at the top of this page.
Advocacy & communications
2025
Kuwait
In 2025, Kuwait — a close U.S. ally — released roughly two dozen detained Americans, among the largest releases of U.S. citizens by a single country in years. Many were military veterans and contractors who had been held for years.
We worked on the effort, and our founder traveled to Kuwait and accompanied a group of the freed Americans on their flight home to New York. Out of respect for the individuals and their families, we do not name them here.
Advocacy & strategy
Lt. Ridge Alkonis, a U.S. Navy officer, was imprisoned in Japan after a 2021 traffic accident his family attributes to a sudden, undiagnosed medical emergency. Far from home and inside a foreign legal system, his wife and three children faced years of separation.
We supported the family’s campaign for his return and worked the case through the U.S. government’s prisoner-transfer process. He was transferred to U.S. custody in late 2023 and released by the U.S. Parole Commission in early 2024.
Family spokesperson & advocacy
Two American fathers — Ryan Watson of Oklahoma and Bryan Hagerich of Pennsylvania — were arrested in Turks and Caicos in 2024 when a small amount of stray hunting ammunition was found in their luggage, an offense that carried a mandatory minimum of twelve years in prison.
We helped the families navigate an unfamiliar legal system and a sudden wave of national attention. Both men ultimately received suspended sentences and returned home to their families.
Family spokesperson & advocacy
In the newsCBS News · NewsNation
A proud moment
Michael White & Mahdi
U.S. Navy veteran Michael White was detained in Iran in 2018 and held for nearly two years. Inside a Mashhad prison, he was helped by a young Iranian activist, Mahdi Vatankhah, who became his interpreter and — while on furlough — his connection to the outside world.
We worked with Michael’s family throughout, and he came home in 2020. After his release, Michael set out to repay the favor: he sponsored Mahdi’s path to safety in the United States, and we helped bring him here.
Family spokesperson & advocacy
In the newsAssociated Press · CNN
Air Force combat veteran Joe St. Clair had traveled abroad seeking treatment for PTSD when he was detained in Venezuela in late 2024. After his family went public, the U.S. designated him wrongfully detained.
We served as the family’s spokesperson through the months that followed. Joe was freed and came home in May 2025.
Family spokesperson
In the newsCNN · Stars and Stripes
Savoi Wright, a musician and entrepreneur from the San Francisco Bay Area, was detained in Venezuela in 2023. We guided his family through the press and the process during his detention.
He was released that December as part of a broader agreement and reunited with his family.
Family spokesperson
In the newsNBC Bay Area · CBS News
The case that began this work. U.S. Marine Andrew Tahmooressi, an Afghanistan combat veteran, was held in a Mexican prison for seven months in 2014 after a wrong-way turn at the border left him on the Mexican side with legally owned firearms in his vehicle.
As the family’s spokesman, we kept his case in the national conversation — and helped turn it into a cause that reached Congress — until his release that fall.
Family spokesperson
In the newsCNN · The Guardian
A natural-born American citizen was arbitrarily detained by the Israel Defense Forces over ten Facebook posts and thirty-four emoji — shared with a very small personal following — which military prosecutors charged as incitement.
We advocated for her due-process rights and pressed senior U.S. officials, including the Secretary of State, over her treatment in custody and the delay in granting her consular access.
Family advocacy
In the newsAssociated Press · NBC News
Current cases
Some of the people we are working to bring home are still abroad. These cases are active, so we share only what is public — and what helps.
Travis Leake, an American musician and former Army paratrooper who lived in Moscow for more than a decade, was arrested in 2023 and, in 2024, sentenced to thirteen years on drug charges he denies. He has not been designated wrongfully detained.
We continue to press his case publicly and to call for his inclusion in any path home.
Advocacy — active
We are engaged on other active cases we do not discuss publicly, and we are regularly called on to advise families navigating a loved one’s detention abroad.
Confidential
On air
A few of our founder’s television appearances on the cases of Americans detained abroad.
If your family is facing this, we’re here.
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