Effingham County Residents File RICO Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Local Officials Over Data Center Project
Residents of Effingham County, Georgia, have filed a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) lawsuit against OpenAI, its affiliates, and various county commissioners and leaders. The lawsuit alleges a conspiracy to push through OpenAI's 'Project Camellia,' a planned $20-$30 billion AI data center. Plaintiffs Dr. Michelle Finch-Mincey, Lehman Mincey Jr., and Raymond Carver claim that county officials and OpenAI engaged in fraud, concealment through non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), misleading public statements, improper land transactions, zoning violations, and civil racketeering. They assert that these actions were part of a coordinated scheme to secure land, tax incentives, and zoning approvals without adequately informing residents, leading to harm to property values. The lawsuit names all Effingham County Commissioners, the County Manager, the CEO of the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority (IDA), the IDA itself, OpenAI, Octans GA LLC, and Savannah Industrial Development LLC a...