RICO charge: The meaning and history of Georgia's racketeering law and why Fulton County DA Fani Willis used it against Trump

• Fulton County DA Fani Willis charged Donald Trump and his associates under the state's RICO laws.
• This would allow the DA to pursue a "broad" case that involves multiple people, a law professor told Insider.

The Fulton County District Attorney's Office indicted Donald Trump and several of his 2020 campaign operatives on Monday, with charges stemming from efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election result.

District Attorney Fani Willis brought charges against Trump and 18 other defendants under the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The federal RICO Act was initially intended to charge mafias and gangs. In recent years, the law has been applied more broadly in the state of Georgia.

On Monday, Fulton County's courts website momentarily posted — and then removed — a document appearing to show Trump would face charges including racketeering. Nicholas Cotten, a spokesperson for the Fulton County courts system, called it "a fictitious document" in a statement.

Willis opened the case after Trump asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" while the votes for the 2020 election were being tallied. In 2022, a Georgia special grand jury heard from dozens of witnesses, including local officials and Trump aides who testified.

The charges include forgery in the first degree, false statements and writing, and violating the RICO Act.

While the RICO Act is a federal law, Georgia has additional racketeering statutes that can and have been used against figures outside of mob bosses or typical criminal enterprises since they were adopted in 1980.

If found guilty under the RICO Act, Trump could face a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine.

Melissa Redmon, a director for the University of Georgia School of Law's Prosecutorial Justice Program, told Insider that seeking the state's RICO Act would allow prosecutors to pursue a "broad" case involving multiple people and events that could have occurred at different periods of time and even locations.

"The idea behind the RICO is that you can charge the mastermind with everything that those involved in the enterprise did," Redmon said. And the RICO Act could give prosecutors the opportunity to give a "fuller picture of everything that was done to influence or to disrupt the election in Georgia."

What is the RICO Act?

The RICO Act was introduced by the federal government in 1970, originally as a legal means to prosecute mafias and entire groups involved in organized crimes.

But the law doesn't refer to a specific offense. Racketeering activity can cover a wide range of criminal activities, including gambling, extortion, arson, robbery, bribery, theft, and fraud. It is not limited to financial schemes.

However, a federal RICO charge can only be brought when two or more of these acts of crime are committed within a span of 10 years, establishing a "pattern of racketeering activity."

A decade after the RICO Act was established, Georgia introduced its own set of statutes to go with the federal law. State lawmakers hoped to address the "increasing sophistication of various criminal elements," according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The statutes allow prosecutors to use the RICO Act with more flexibility, Redmon told Insider.

For example, in Georgia, the RICO Act can be used to charge one person, Redmon said. "It doesn't have to be a group of people."

The federal version of the law requires that there be two acts of racketeering within a 10-year span in order for prosecutors to bring the charges, while the Georgia RICO statute is not bound by the same time constraints.

Who has been charged with it lately?

Willis, who is a known fan of the prosecutorial device, previously indicated that her investigation was expansive and could include racketeering charges.

At the state level, Willis has indicted 35 Atlanta public school teachers, who are accused of falsifying standard test results. She has also used the statute against local gangs and in an ongoing 56-count RICO case against rapper Young Thug and others.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn built a successful RICO case against singer R. Kelly in June 2022, when he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for orchestrating a ploy to engage in sex trafficking teenagers. The artist was the sole defendant in the trial.

How tough is it to prosecute?

In this case, experts previously told Insider that Georgia's more wide-ranging RICO statute could be both a blessing and a curse.

Election-related crimes such as forgery, influencing witnesses, and election fraud could be prosecuted alongside the RICO charge, Norm Eisen, a legal expert for the Brookings Institution previously told Insider in March.

"Georgia's RICO statute fits those facts like a glove," Eisen told Insider. "That's because the attempted coup DA Willis is investigating was a comprehensive assault on our democracy, and doing a larger case under RICO would better get at that and would achieve broad accountability against those responsible, above all Donald Trump."

The RICO charge would also carry up to a 20-year prison sentence on its own, making it one of the more severe charges. The charge can also streamline witness cooperation for those alleged to be part of the scheme.

The fact that the case is so politically charged could also hurt prosecutors, as Trump and allies have cast Willis as an over-eager prosecutor.

"I ultimately think bringing a narrower case under typical white-collar criminal statutes is the better choice," Eisen previously told Insider.