In a prosecution that local news outlets had called “stunning,” a New Jersey judge has made an equally stunning dismissal of corruption and racketeering charges against insurance executive and Democratic power broker George Norcross III and five co-defendants
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said the case is far from over.
“We disagree strongly with the trial court’s decision, and we are appealing immediately,” Platkin said in a statement released Wednesday. “After years in which the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently cut back on federal public corruption law, and at a time in which the federal government is refusing to tackle corruption, it has never been more important for state officials to take corruption head on.”
Norcross, the chairman of Camden-based insurance brokerage Conner Strong & Buckelew, which has had operations in six northeast states as well as Georgia and Florida, was indicted last year on 13 counts stemming from a years-long investigation. Prosecutors alleged that Norcross, now a Florida resident, had used coercion, extortion and other illicit means to win favorable legislation, obtain property rights on the Camden waterfront and collect millions in tax credits.
But the judge said Wednesday that prosecutors had failed to show that Norcross’ actions were criminal or unlawful.
“Even if all of the indictment’s factual allegations are accepted as true, those allegations do not amount to a crime as a matter of law,” Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw wrote in his decision, according to news reports.
The judge’s words almost echoed those from Norcross’ defense attorneys. They said in court filings last September that the executive may have used hard-bargaining techniques, including economic threats to cease doing business or to break a contract, but those are not prohibited by law.
“If it’s a crime to warn of ‘consequences’ if a deal is not reached, or to use expletives in doing so, New Jersey needs to build more prisons,” a defense filing notes.
News reports have said that the 68-year-old Norcross has held an outsized influence over southern New Jersey and statewide politics since the 1990s. His insurance brokerage was founded in 1959 and has 450 professionals in offices in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Delaware, Florida, and Georgia.
The indictment can be seen here.
Photo: George Norcross in Superior Court in January. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
Related: Norcross Defense Team Pans Racketeering Case as ‘Crime Thriller With No Crime’
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New Jersey
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