Federal and state RICO statutes were designed to combat organized crime. But prosecutors now bring RICO charges for alleged government and corporate fraud, and civil RICO claims have become a common feature of business and commercial litigation. Criminal RICO charges can be accompanied by civil forfeiture proceedings, and civil RICO claims carry the threat of treble damages and the stigma of a judgment that the defendant engaged in serious criminal conduct.

Powell Goldstein has handled RICO litigation at trial and on appeal, and has represented both defendants and plaintiffs in state and federal RICO litigation.

Our experienced RICO litigation team includes former federal and state prosecutors, white collar criminal defense attorneys, and financial and commercial litigators with the experience and ability to handle the complex issues unique to RICO litigation.

Our RICO litigation experience has involved claims relating to mortgage lending practices, healthcare, insurance, pensions and investments, financial institutions, business transactions and competition, among other areas. We have defended against RICO claims brought by individuals and business entities, as well as litigation brought by plaintiffs seeking class action status.

In our RICO litigation experience, we have:

• Represented a health maintenance organization (HMO) in federal trial and appellate courts in complex multi-district class action litigation involving federal RICO conspiracy claims predicated upon allegations of mail and wire fraud in the coding and processing health insurance claims
• Represented a financial institution in federal class action RICO litigation relating to mortgage lending practices, a mortgage lender in defense against state civil RICO claim and a defendant in a state RICO case arising out of allegations of mortgage fraud
• Represented the CEO of a major corporation as special appellate counsel in an appeal of an adverse federal civil RICO judgment obtained by competitors and imposing personal liability for treble damages
• Represented an insurance company in state RICO litigation relating to the marketing of insurance policies
• Represented a financial institution in state RICO shareholder class action litigation premised upon allegations of state securities "blue sky" law violations and common law fraud based on allegedly improper stock loans to insiders
• Represented a consumer electronics manufacturer in federal civil RICO lawsuit relating to product licensing and royalties
• Represented a medical technology services company in a state civil RICO lawsuit relating to billing practices
• Represented a finance company in federal civil RICO lawsuit arising out of factoring agreement with manufacturer
• Represented defendant businessman in federal civil RICO litigation involving REIT investments
• Represented a law firm in federal civil RICO litigation arising out of a defaulted tax-exempt revenue bond issue