Defendant in failed racketeering case sues ex-attorney general, others

The CEO of a major South Jersey real estate development company has filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against former Attorney General Matt Platkin and prosecutors in the embattled Office of Public Integrity and Accountability after a racketeering indictment against him was thrown out by state judges.

John J. O’Donnell, the former CEO of The Michaels Organization, was a co-defendant in a collapsed racketeering case against Democratic powerhouse George E. Norcross III.

The lawsuit alleges that New Jersey prosecutors knowingly built and pursued a baseless, politically motivated criminal case that violated O’Donnell’s civil rights.

“The most basic tenants (sic) of our constitutional protections and guarantees were intentionally ignored for the purpose of creating a media spectacle and achieving personal political and occupational advancement by the defendants in their attempted portrayal as superior crime stoppers and through their villainization of the plaintiff and his business partners,” said O’Donnell’s attorney, Louis M. Barbone, in his court filing.

The indictment forced O’Donnell to resign as CEO of his company.  Now he wants compensatory and punitive damages for his financial losses and his “reputational harm and humiliation.”

Other defendants include Assistant Attorney General Michael Breslin and three investigators: Ryan Vivarelli, Erin Bancroft, and Nicholas Villano.

More than one year ago, Superior Court Judge Peter Washaw dismissed the charges in the 112-page indictment against O’Donnell and others.

Warshaw found that the indictment’s “factual allegations do not constitute extortion or criminal coercion as a matter of law” and found “there was no racketeering enterprise.”  He determined that Redd “did not commit any act of official misconduct,” And that all charges were outside the statute of limitations.

Last month, the new attorney general announced that she would not appeal an appellate court ruling that upheld the trial court judge’s initial dismissal of the indictment.