What Are RICO Charges? Trump's Georgia Charge Examined

A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, voted Monday to charge former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies in the election subversion case, bringing racketeering and conspiracy charges in indictments that center around the state's RICO Act.

The unsealing of the indictments came as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began her presentation on Monday after a years-long investigation into Trump and his associates' efforts to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia against Joe Biden. The indictment marks the fourth against Trump, who is also facing felony charges in Manhattan and in two federal cases.

Willis is well known for her prosecution of RICO cases. She successfully brought a high-profile case against a group of Atlanta public school educators for trying to inflate standardized test scores as an assistant district attorney and continued to prosecute other RICO cases in her current role, including one involving a Grammy-winning rapper.

Here's what RICO charges are and how they'll apply to Trump's case in Georgia.

What Is the RICO Act?

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a federal law that penalizes activities of individuals engaging in organized crime, but many states, including Georgia, have adopted their own RICO laws.

Because Georgia's statute defines racketeering much more broadly than federal law and requires less to prove a pattern of racketeering activity than the federal statute, it is an instrumental tool for prosecutors who can string together separate crimes committed by different people towards some common goal or purpose.

What are RICO Charges?

Typically used against members of the mafia, RICO charges look at the bigger picture of crime schemes. Instead of pinpointing specific actions, prosecutors will use various activities to show juries the overarching criminal behavior that the smaller actions contributed to.

"RICO requires a criminal enterprise and a pattern of racketeering activity," former federal prosecutor and President of West Coast Trial Lawyers Neama Rahmani told Newsweek. "The enterprise doesn't have to be a gang or the mob. It is broadly interpreted to be any association of individuals. So Trump and those who allegedly assisted him in trying to overturn the 2020 election qualifies."

Willis herself has said she likes using the statute because it "allows a prosecutor's office and law enforcement to tell the whole story."

"The reason that I am a fan of RICO is, I think jurors are very, very intelligent," she said back in 2022 about another indictment. "They want to know what happened. They want to make an accurate decision about someone's life."

How Could RICO Apply to Trump in Georgia?

"RICO allows Willis to bring in criminal conduct involving other people, including conduct that took place outside of Fulton County, so it broadens the evidence and witnesses she can present at trial," Rahmani said.

Willis will also have more unlawful conduct to point to because Georgia considers perjury, witness tampering and evidence tampering as RICO predicate acts.

The penalties in the state are also steeper than under federal law.

A person convicted of a crime under the RICO Act can face up to 20 years in prison or a maximum $25,000 fine. Defendants are also subject to civil punishments, like the forfeiture of property obtained through violating the RICO statute or a ban from conducting a specific type of business, and lawsuits from victims of a scheme.

Georgia is also unique because the power to pardon in the state lies with a Board of Pardons and Paroles, under the state's constitution, and not with the sitting president. So, while a Republican president, should one be elected in 2024, or Trump himself may pardon Trump in the federal cases, they could not get rid of the charges in Georgia that easily.

Those applying for a pardon with the board must complete a sentence for at least five years.