Chris Christie may have a RICO problem

[geek tragedy]

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt in which such person has participated as a principal within the meaning of section 2, title 18, United States Code, to use or invest, directly or indirectly, any part of such income, or the proceeds of such income, in acquisition of any interest in, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. A purchase of securities on the open market for purposes of investment, and without the intention of controlling or participating in the control of the issuer, or of assisting another to do so, shall not be unlawful under this subsection if the securities of the issuer held by the purchaser, the members of his immediate family, and his or their accomplices in any pattern or racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt after such purchase do not amount in the aggregate to one percent of the outstanding securities of any one class, and do not confer, either in law or in fact, the power to elect one or more directors of the issuer.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person through a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, any interest in or control of any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce.

(c) It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.

(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1962

Among the RICO predicate offenses:

Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1951

Port Authority is certainly such an enterprise, and obstructing traffic across state lines on a federal highway as part of a political extortion scheme . . .

[hack89]

1. RICO requires a pattern of actions

how many times can it be shown that he obstructed traffic across state lines? Not sure what the legal standard is but it has to be more than one.

[geek tragedy]

2. This is the first we've heard about. But, given the corruption, arrogance, and recklessness

that his crew of political thugs has implemented, would be surprised if there are not other such violations.

[starroute]

4. It defines "pattern" as "at least two acts"

Shouldn't be a very high bar to meet.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Racketeering

[starroute]

9. And if not RICO, it's absolutely criminal conspiracy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_conspiracy#United_States

Conspiracy has been defined in the US as an agreement of two or more people to commit a crime, or to accomplish a legal end through illegal actions. . . .

Conspiracy law usually does not require proof of specific intent by the defendants to injure any specific person to establish an illegal agreement. Instead, usually the law only requires the conspirators have agreed to engage in a certain illegal act. This is sometimes described as a "general intent" to violate the law.

Under most U.S. laws, for a person to be convicted of conspiracy not only must he or she agree to commit a crime, but at least one of the conspirators must commit an overt act (the actus reus) in furtherance of the crime. . . .

California criminal law is somewhat representative of other jurisdictions. A punishable conspiracy exists when at least two people form an agreement to commit a crime, and at least one of them does some act in furtherance to committing the crime. Each person is punishable in the same manner and to the same extent as is provided for the punishment of the crime itself.

[starroute]

15. Here's an earlier example of accusations against Christie

It sure looks like a pattern of illegal activities to me. And it specifically raises the question of why Don Siegelman is in prison but Chris Christie is walking free.

http://www.truth-out.org/archive/component/k2/item/94665-new-jerseys-public-defender-accuses-gov-chris-christie-of-illegal-activity

24 February 2011

Will Chris Christie, New Jersey's tough Republican Governor and rising GOP star, be the next president of the United States? That prospect is much less likely if the accusations of Yvonne Smith Segars, the head of New Jersey's Office of the Public Defender, turn out to be accurate.

In a scathing letter [PDF] sent to the Governor on Monday, she charged Christie with having "violated New Jersey law as well as the State and Federal Constitutions," in his efforts to remove her from her post, and by interfering with the operation of her office. In the letter, Segars threatened to sue him for eroding the constitutional rights of indigent clients. She says he's actively undermining the work of the state's public defenders by "obstructing...management decisions and by impeding the filling of constitutionally mandated positions."

Segars accused Christie of "bullying tactics" in an effort to remove her from office. The tactics, according to NJ's chief Public Defender, included "veiled threats", "pressure to resign", "interference with [the] agency's operations" by thwarting approved promotions, and ordering her press officer to report to the Governor, instead of to her. . . .

In a blistering email statement, Segars' attorney charged Christie is "tamper[ing] with the independence of the judiciary and now with the independence of the Public Defender" in what amounts to an "illegal and unconstitutional" "power grab" meriting impeachment by the state legislature...

[starroute]

17. There's also the question of when cronyism turns into conspiracy

Christie has gotten away with a lot, because in New Jersey it just looks like business as usual. But one clearly criminal incident can make everything that came before look a lot more dubious. The overall pattern here is one of using dubious methods to further Christie's own ambitious -- and there's one individual act after another that plays into that.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2013/08/gov_christies_shamless_2m_self.html

August 06, 2013

Gov. Chris Christie’s habit of using his public office to promote his presidential ambitions has reached a new low.

We’ve seen him do it before. He closed down six Planned Parenthood clinics to appease right-wing primary voters. He’s dragged his feet relentlessly over medical marijuana and dismissed concerns over climate change for the same reason. This fall he is wasting taxpayer money by holding an election in October, in addition to the regularly scheduled November election, solely to protect the large victory margin he expects for his party.

But this time, he’s outdone himself. This time, he siphoned off money that was intended for victims of Sandy to promote himself in a series of TV ads. That is a new low, one that should play prominently in his campaign for re-election.

[lobodons]

19. Act 1 = Day 1 of lane closers

Act 2 = Day 2 of lane closers

[geek tragedy]

24. yep, two separate acts, two separate crimes, nt

[BumRushDaShow]

22. Don't forget his inauguaral act - the Tunnel

[font size="4"]Report Disputes Christie’s Basis for Halting Tunnel[/font]
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: April 10, 2012

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey exaggerated when he declared that unforeseen costs to the state were forcing him to cancel the new train tunnel planned to relieve congested routes across the Hudson River, according to a long-awaited report by independent Congressional investigators.

The report by the Government Accountability Office, to be released this week, found that while Mr. Christie said that state transportation officials had revised cost estimates for the tunnel to at least $11 billion and potentially more than $14 billion, the range of estimates had in fact remained unchanged in the two years before he announced in 2010 that he was shutting down the project. And state transportation officials, the report says, had said the cost would be no more than $10 billion.

Mr. Christie also misstated New Jersey’s share of the costs: he said the state would pay 70 percent of the project; the report found that New Jersey was paying 14.4 percent. And while the governor said that an agreement with the federal government would require the state to pay all cost overruns, the report found that there was no final agreement, and that the federal government had made several offers to share those costs.

Canceling the tunnel, then the largest public works project in the nation, helped shape Mr. Christie’s profile as a rising Republican star, an enforcer of fiscal discipline in a country drunk on debt. But the report is likely to revive criticism that his decision, which he said was about “hard choices” in tough economic times, was more about avoiding the need to raise the state’s gasoline tax, which would have violated a campaign promise. The governor subsequently steered $4 billion earmarked for the tunnel to the state’s near-bankrupt transportation trust fund, traditionally financed by the gasoline tax.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/nyregion/report-disputes-christies-reason-for-halting-tunnel-project-in-2010.html?pagewanted=all

[Raine1967]

29. I'm glad you brought this up.

From a NYT editorial in 2012:

Now, a report from the Government Accountability Office makes it clear that the cost-cutting talk was political bluster. Mr. Christie estimated that the project could cost more than $14 billion, of which New Jersey would have had to pay 70 percent if you counted federal stimulus dollars and Port Authority money. The report said later federal estimates ranged from $9.8 billion to $12.4 billion and that the state’s real share was 14.4 percent. The benefits would have been huge. Today, traffic moves under the Hudson River through two 100-year-old tunnels that are nearly at capacity at peak travel times. With projections that transit demands in this area will increase 38 percent by 2030, the new tunnels would have allowed twice as many trains during rush hour, 48 per hour instead of 23.

The report, which Mr. Christie continues to dispute, cited estimates that home values and tax revenues would have risen, and that the construction would have added $9 billion to the regional economy. But Mr. Christie wanted to use the tunnel money to avoid adding a few cents to the state’s gasoline tax, the nation’s second lowest. He was thinking about his career, not his constituents.

Boldface mine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/opinion/gov-chris-christie-and-the-tunnel-project.html?_r=0

I don't live in NY anymore but that move pissed me off then and it still bothers me today. I was a regular commuter.

NY and NJ deserve better than this.

[jmowreader]

25. How many days was the traffic obstructed?

A highly creative prosecutor might look at average traffic flow into the obstructed exits and claim that each vehicle that couldn't use the exits was a separate "time."

[RC]

3. Chris Christie is a high profile Republican.

How can he possibly have a RICO problem? Unless maybe, he was caught on a traffic camera, shaking down someone in the middle of the street.

[geek tragedy]

5. Mitt Romney thought he had ethical baggage. nt

[Katashi_itto]

6. Old Mittens is up on RICO charges too from Laser

At least I think it's RICO

[geek tragedy]

7. RICO private suit is a whole kettle of fish different than RICO fed case nt

[Katashi_itto]

11. Ok, sounds reasonable to me. I only know the very basics of RICO

[geek tragedy]

12. Feds can prosecute, and private citizens can file lawsuits if they've been

harmed economically.

I would be surprised if Christie didn't see a few private RICO suits over this.

[Katashi_itto]

13. Thanks for the explanation

[onenote]

8. I doubt you could prove extortion

There is a difference between extortion and revenge.

[geek tragedy]

10. I said he may have a RICO problem.

If there were emails released showing extortion already, I'd be saying he DOES have a RICO problem.

[onenote]

14. Sure. But if threats amounting to extortion had been made against the Mayor of Fort Lee

I suspect we would have heard about them already from the Mayor of Fort Lee.

[geek tragedy]

16. Who knows what conversations were held 'off the record' etc. nt

[DeSwiss]

18. K&R

[center]

[/center]

[rustbeltvoice]

20. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey

Who is going to read a letter from Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, now when Roseanne Roseannadanna is not with us?

[calimary]

21. OMG!!! ROFL!!! That's the first thing I thought of when I heard the reference to Fort Lee NJ for the

first time!!!!

[rustbeltvoice]

23. "Mr. Feder, you sure do ask a lot of questions for a guy from New Jersey".

[BumRushDaShow]

26. Must include the video!

[elehhhhna]

27. retaliation versus extortion

either way the media should go ape

this is so cynical, craven, and appalling

republicans hate the people they want to rule


his ego needs a crash diet, and I think it's coming

[ProSense]

28. Here Are The 4 Most Incriminating Email Exchanges In The Chris Christie Bridge Scandal

Here Are The 4 Most Incriminating Email Exchanges In The Chris Christie Bridge Scandal
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/08/3134241/emails-tie-christie-aide-bridge-closing-scandal/

Christie: I Was 'Misled By A Member Of My Staff' (updated)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024299987

[Karinkrake]

30. RICO SUITS HAVE BEEN FILED AGAINST CHRISTIE

Are you aware that there are at least 3 RICO suits against Gov. Christie in Federal Court right now?

I was the first to file. 14-cv-5985. Also, Rachel Alintoff and Damaris Adamo. And a whole slew of other people are filing tomorrow from what I hear.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1206874

Karin Wolf

[Kingofalldems]

31. Excellent. Please keep us posted.