No criminal. In the threatened George case the District Attorney represents the State of Georgia, so the Plaintiff in that case will State of Georgia v Donald J Trump. The Georgia DA will looking to convict him of the state crime of racketeering. Georgia is one of the states that has passed a state law similar to the federal RICO law. Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island, Georgia, and Indiana have enacted criminal RICO statutes similar to the federal RICO statute.
In a federal case instead of The State of Georgia the Plaintiff would be The United States v Donald Trump. A Federal criminal RICO could only be pursued by an Attorney General in the DOJ. A District Attorney is essentially the state equivalent of a federal Attorney General. DA's represent the State, AG's represent the US.
An individual does not have "standing" to bring criminal charges. That's why in criminal cases - state or federal - the victim of a crime is only a witness, but the Plaintiff is either the State of Georgia, for example, or The United States of America. Most criminal statutes do not give private citizens the right to sue.
Under Federal law, however, there is also a civil RICO statute that gives private citizens standing to sue for damages (money) caused by criminal racketeering. Judges hate these cases and they are often dismissed, primarily in my opinion because federal judges think that the purported RICO case should really just be filed as a fraud case. People like to pursue federal civil RICO though, because you would recover treble damages (3x the amount the jury finds was your damage) and attorneys fees. So, mo money. But they are very hard to pursue and few are pursued effectively.
Thank you for the clarification. So is the GA DA filing a civil rico against trump then?
No criminal. In the threatened George case the District Attorney represents the State of Georgia, so the Plaintiff in that case will State of Georgia v Donald J Trump. The Georgia DA will looking to convict him of the state crime of racketeering. Georgia is one of the states that has passed a state law similar to the federal RICO law. Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island, Georgia, and Indiana have enacted criminal RICO statutes similar to the federal RICO statute.
In a federal case instead of The State of Georgia the Plaintiff would be The United States v Donald Trump. A Federal criminal RICO could only be pursued by an Attorney General in the DOJ. A District Attorney is essentially the state equivalent of a federal Attorney General. DA's represent the State, AG's represent the US.
An individual does not have "standing" to bring criminal charges. That's why in criminal cases - state or federal - the victim of a crime is only a witness, but the Plaintiff is either the State of Georgia, for example, or The United States of America. Most criminal statutes do not give private citizens the right to sue.
Under Federal law, however, there is also a civil RICO statute that gives private citizens standing to sue for damages (money) caused by criminal racketeering. Judges hate these cases and they are often dismissed, primarily in my opinion because federal judges think that the purported RICO case should really just be filed as a fraud case. People like to pursue federal civil RICO though, because you would recover treble damages (3x the amount the jury finds was your damage) and attorneys fees. So, mo money. But they are very hard to pursue and few are pursued effectively.
Thank you dolly!