Baton Rouge has just been given a new venue for what proves to be one of the strangest court cases of 2025. This comes after a prank video, shot by YouTube personality Carliemar White, a.k.a. Agent Ratliff, with over a million subscribers, turned a hardware store into a battle arena for a war of deception, smoke, and lawsuits, with Holmes Building Materials, a respected Louisiana-based construction materials business, taking Agent Ratliff to court.
When Comedy Turns Into Chaos
White entered Holmes Building Materials, a business in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on August 1, 2025, with a camera crew, assistant, clipboard, and altered identity as ‘Agent Ratliff, ID No. 33712,’ which came from a fictional organization he termed as ‘Occupational Cares Diversity Affairs’ or OCDA.
He accused supervisor Derek Jones of racism, nepotism, as well as other violations at work that had been made up. White was once accused of blowing smoke in Jones’ face as others blocked access to the doorway of the office, which prevented access for Jones.
White’s video, posted on YouTube on August 12, has gotten over 120,000 views, with lots of laughter from its fans who derive pleasure watching business owners squirm. But Holmes and Jones are not laughing. They are suing for defamation, false imprisonment, assault, and battery.
This Lawsuit Is Like a Sledgehammer
Instead, Holmes Building Materials’ federal lawsuit portrays a White who is more of a comedian than a con man.
The case asserts that White misrepresented himself as a federal investigator, misled employee trust as he was able to access the facility, and deliberately caused damage to its reputation. Holmes asserts that its employee harassment occurred after the video was released, as it affected its reputation in Baton Rouge.
Jones, who was caught in the middle as a supervisor, has claimed that White, with his crew, refused to let him out of the office, making it a hostile environment for him. The corporation now petitions a federal judge for an injunction ordering White to remove, not just the Holmes video, but any other prank videos he may have posted online.
Holmes refused to engage with a statement from local news channel WBRZ.
From OSHA to Oh No You Did Not
This, of course, isn’t White’s first run-in with controversy. This lawsuit cites that there was a raid at White’s home in 2023 over accusations that he posed as a representative of OSHA for some of his stunts in the past. A court in Georgia had also given him a 2.3 million dollar judgment over past stunts.
Despite this legal baggage, White’s Agent Ratliff persona remains a relatively popular figure on the internet, where users appreciate White’s ridiculous interviews as a key component of a comedic persona.
Twitter Becomes ‘The Jury Box’
Since news about the lawsuit spread, social media circles have been abuzz with opinions ranging both ways.
- “I don’t ever think he claimed that he was federal. Allowing strangers with letters on your shirts into your business, that’s your problem as a business owner. Lmao”
- “This will actually be an interesting case, especially if you’ve ever seen any of his videos, as he isn’t claiming to be a federal agent that I’ve seen, but they just start complying with him as if he was, just based on that hat and clipboard,”
- ‘I’m shocked it took this long for someone to sue him lol’
- “This dude’s videos are funny. He gets these people wound up in a tizzy, and they don’t know what they’re doing, LMAO .”
- “I’m always thinking, ‘Is he trespassing with this behavior?’
- “Showing faces and names with this type of behavior will get you into trouble”
Comments are varied, ranging from encouragement to criticism. While some hold Holmes accountable for being gullible, others critique White for going after actual businesses and actual workers.
