Wayne Hsiung

Wayne Hsiung
Hsiung in 2017
Born1981 or 1982 (age 42–43)[1]
Alma materUniversity of Chicago (JD)[1]
Occupation(s)Activist for animal rights and environmentalism, lawyer
Websitesimpleheart.substack.com

Wayne Hsiung is an American activist and attorney.[2][3] Hsiung is a co-founder of The Simple Heart Initiative and previously led the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), which he also co-founded.[4][5][6][7] During his time as a lawyer, he worked with the law firms DLA Piper and Steptoe & Johnson, was a Searle Fellow and visiting assistant professor at the Northwestern University School of Law, and a National Science Foundation-funded graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[8][9] Hsiung ran for mayor of Berkeley, California, in 2020, largely focused on the issue of animal rights, and earned 24% of the vote, defeated by incumbent Jesse Arreguin.[10][11]

Hsiung was incarcerated in November 2023 after being convicted of felony trespassing for his role in an open rescue of sick and dying chickens from Sunrise Farms in 2018.[12][1] Prior to this trial, Hsiung had been found guilty of two felonies;[13] in other jurisdictions he has faced charges of up to 60 years in prison.[14] In the most serious case, Hsiung was offered resolution that involved no prison time, on the condition that he refrain from criticizing the company he had investigated, Smithfield Foods; he and co-defendant Paul Picklesimer refused the offer and were acquitted after trial in October 2022.[15]

  1. ^ a b c Greene, Jenna (January 4, 2024). "From Big Law to jail, animal rights activist seeks to break new legal ground". Reuters. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  2. ^ "Wayne Hsiung for Berkeley, CA Mayor 2020". Wayne Hsiung for Mayor. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  3. ^ "Berkeley Mayor Election Results". Berkeley Mayor Election Results. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  4. ^ "Wayne Hsiung". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  5. ^ "Wayne Hsiung". Facebook. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  6. ^ "Wayne Hsiung". Substack. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  7. ^ Colman, Zack (2016-04-16). "The Fight for Cage-Free Eggs". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  8. ^ "In Re: Allstate Life Insurance Company Litigation". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  9. ^ "Wayne Hsiung". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  10. ^ Khan, Zara; Kapoor, Tarunika (2020-06-04). "'A force for change': Prominent activist Wayne Hsiung runs for mayor". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  11. ^ Jacobs, Andrew (2022-10-08). "Animal Rights Activists Are Acquitted in Smithfield Piglet Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  12. ^ Lennard, Natasha (2023-11-04). "Update: Wayne Hsiung Found Guilty, Receives Suspended Sentence, Probation". theintercept.com. The Intercept. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  13. ^ "Update: Wayne Hsiung Found Guilty, Receives Suspended Sentence, Probation". transylvaniatimes.com. The Transylvania Times. 2022-07-12. Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  14. ^ Klein, Ezra (5 December 2019). "When doing the right thing makes you a criminal". Vox. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Meet the Activists Risking Prison to Film VR in Factory Farms". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-07-14.