What does RICO stand for? Here's why Donald Trump's Georgia indictment charges him with 'racketeering'
ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Former US president Donald Trump and 18 of his aides have been indicted on state racketeering and conspiracy charges related to their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis claimed that the indictment, handed down by a state grand jury in Atlanta on Monday, August 14, alleges "violations of Georgia law arising from a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the election in this state."
The indictment is the result of a two-year-long investigation launched by Willis in February 2021, just weeks after it was revealed that Trump had urged Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse his loss in the Peach State.
Willis used Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law to charge Trump and his associates for taking part in an extensive conspiracy to rig Georgia's 2020 election.
Trump’s allies charged in the Georgia indictment include Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Ken Cheseboro, Jeffrey Clark, Jenna Ellis, Ray Smith III, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, David Shafer, Shawn Still, Stephen Lee, Harrison Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Sidney Powell, Cathleen Latham, Scott Hall, and Misty Hampton.
What does RICO stand for?
RICO is short for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which originated in 1970 as a tool to fight organized crime.
The law gives prosecutors the authority to target higher-ranking members of a criminal organization as well as the underlings who execute the dirty job, as per Daily Mail.
However, RICO’s use was never meant to be limited exclusively to organized crime. In a 1989 opinion, the Supreme Court noted that the law was drafted "broadly enough to encompass a wide range of criminal activity, taking many different forms and likely to attract a broad array of perpetrators."
After the federal legislation went into force, states soon started implementing their own RICO statutes. Generally speaking, RICO laws allow prosecutors to charge multiple people who commit separate crimes while working toward a common goal.
What is a Rico charge in Georgia?
The RICO Act of Georgia, passed in 1980, makes it unlawful to take part in, obtain, or retain control over an "enterprise" through a "pattern of racketeering activity" or to conspire to do so.
An "enterprise" could represent a single person or a group of connected people working towards a shared objective. It is crucial to understand that the alleged scheme does not have to have been successful for a RICO charge to stand.
Fulton County DA speaks after Donald Trump is indicted in a fourth case, with the former president being charged Monday in Georgia over his efforts to overturn his 2020 general election defeat in the state. pic.twitter.com/Y5zQbpM9WA
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 15, 2023
Federal RICO accusations, according to the Supreme Court, must demonstrate continuity, or a series of connected underlying actions that occurred over a long period, not just a few weeks or months. However, the Georgia Supreme Court has emphasized that state law does not contain such a provision.
In Georgia, RICO is a felony conviction that entails a penalty of five to twenty years in jail, a fine of $25,000 or three times the profit from the crime, whichever is higher, or both a prison term and a fine.
Willis previously used RICO Act enhancements in a case against members of the Young Stoner Life, or YSL, a rap collective and record label that was started by Young Thug, according to NBC.