February 17, 2026
Amy Newman/Imagn Images
Acting New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport says the state will no longer pursue its racketeering case against George E. Norcross III, the Democratic powerbroker and insurance executive who was charged with corruption related to development on the Camden waterfront.
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office is dropping its racketeering case against Democratic powerbroker and insurance executive George E. Norcross III, ending its yearslong effort to prosecute alleged corruption on the Camden waterfront.
The decision comes nearly three weeks after a state appeals court upheld a lower court decision to dismiss the charges against Norcross and five co-defendants. They had been accused of illegally collecting millions of dollars in state tax credits and threatening business rivals to control the redevelopment of property on the Delaware River waterfront.
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Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport informed Norcross' attorneys Tuesday that the state will not file a petition to keep the prosecution going. The deadline to do so would have been this week.
"Our office has decided not to seek review from the New Jersey Supreme Court in State v. Norcross," a spokesperson for Davenport said in a statement. "In light of the Appellate Division's decision, we have concluded that our prosecutorial resources would be best spent on other matters."
Norcross, 69, pleaded not guilty to the racketeering charges two years ago. His attorneys had filed motions claiming the state's evidence failed to prove crimes were committed. The 111-page indictment was led by former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who appealed the lower court's dismissal decision last year.
"We always knew that Matt Platkin brought this case for reasons other than its legal merits — and now multiple judges and Platkin's successor as AG agree the allegations simply weren't true," Norcross spokersperson Dan Fee said Tuesday.
The other five defendants in the case included Norcross's brother Philip Norcross, an attorney; Dana Redd, the former mayor of Camden; Bill Tambussi, Norcross's longtime personal attorney; John O'Donnell, an executive at a residential development company; and Sidney Brown, a Cooper University Health Care board member.
Norcross is the father of PhillyVoice founder and chairwoman Lexie Norcross. Philip Norcross is her uncle.
The attorney general's office said it will continue to pursue public corruption prosecutions.
"Wrongdoing by public officials undermines faith in our institutions, and the public rightfully demands and deserves that officials perform their duties with integrity and in accordance with the law," the attorney general's office said. "We will never shy away from holding public officials accountable when they betray the public's trust and behave unlawfully."
Most of the allegations in the indictment against Norcross spanned between 2013 and 2019.
Prosecutors alleged Norcross and his associates pressured government officials and others to aid in the defendants' plans to acquire lucrative projects along the Camden waterfront. These efforts allegedly led to the Triad1828 tower that serves as headquarters for his insurance firm, Conner Strong & Buckelew, and a waterfront complex for Cooper Health, the health system where he and Philip Norcross are board members.
Fee accused Platkin of targeting Norcross for political reasons and said the former attorney general's motivations should be investigated.
"The question now is whether Platkin's supporters who cheered him on will take a serious look at what he did and whether other authorities will do the same," Fee said. "We will certainly be making the case that he and anyone else who used lawfare against George should be held to account, no differently than Pam Bondi and her DOJ should."
