This story originally appeared on WITF.
On Monday, former president Donald Trump and 18 others were indicted on charges including the violation of Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as “RICO.”
The charges resulted from a two-and-a-half year long grand jury investigation into how Trump and his allies tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
RICO, originally designed to target organized crime, allows prosecutors to charge people engaged in a series of racketeering acts tied to an enterprise. Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia said the actions Trump and his allies took demonstrate a coordinated effort across state lines to challenge the election results and promote false claims of election fraud.
Actions by Trump allies in Pennsylvania, including connections to midstate congressman Scott Perry and Pennsylvania Republican state legislators, were included in the indictment as “acts of racketeering activity and overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy.”