The Atlanta Solidarity Fund is also charged with charity fraud and racketeering, as part of a sweeping RICO indictment against 61 defendants for their protest against “Cop City”
ATLANTA—On Tues., Sept. 17, Georgia Deputy Attorney General John Fowler dropped the money laundering challenges against three Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF) organizers during a hearing wherein the defense presented multiple arguments to dismiss all charges. Two other defendants’ motions to dismiss were also heard at today’s hearing in Fulton County.
ASF organizers were raided at their home on May 31, 2023, and were indicted with money laundering and charity fraud. In August 2023, they were charged with racketeering in the AG’s sweeping indictment against 61 individuals for their protest against “Cop City,” the $109-million 85-acre police training facility being built in Weelaunee Forest in unincorporated DeKalb County.
The plans for the facility garnered mass opposition amongst locals since it was introduced in Atlanta City Council in June 2021. The burgeoning opposition grew following the police killing of 26-year-old Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán, who was shot by police at least 14 times in the forest in January 2023. Since then, the “Stop Cop City” movement has become a globally recognized effort, with many saying, “This is not a local struggle.”
Organizers say the dropping of these charges “represents a major victory in the ongoing fight against the political repression of forest defenders and activists,” according to a press statement in response to today’s hearing.
There is still a chance the AG could resurrect the charges by re-presenting them to a grand jury. However, today, the AG agreed that the money laundering counts as written in the indictment did not satisfy the elements of the money laundering statute. The ASF remains charged in the racketeering count.
According to legal experts familiar with the case, dropping the money laundering charges could chip away at the RICO indictment overall and point out certain deficiencies of the indictment. The state is required to prove two predicate acts of racketeering to satisfy the elements of the Georgia RICO statute, which many have criticized for being broad, vague, and overreaching, failing to specifically identify how any individual committed RICO.
This is a developing story and we will continue to report on it as things develop.
