On the morning of May 31, 2023, the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation carried out a S.W.A.T raid to arrest three organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund on charges of money laundering and charity fraud. These charges are the latest escalation in the ongoing prosecutorial war against the Stop Cop City movement. 

When Georgia prosecutors drew on a rarely-used statute to charge Defend the Atlanta Forest activists with domestic terrorism, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund stepped in to provide jail support and post bail. During the first round of arrests, bond amounts ranged from $6,000 to $13,500 – easily eclipsing the amount of cash the average American keeps on hand. Posting bond on behalf of the defendants blunted the impact of state repression while giving them increased capacity to prepare a legal defense. Organizers from the Atlanta Solidarity Fund were key voices on Twitter drawing national attention to state repression of dissent in Georgia.

Ahead of the March week of action on Cop City, rumors circulated that state prosecutors planned to charge the Atlanta Solidarity Fund under the state RICO statute. The Atlanta Solidarity Fund didn’t blink, and issued a statement:

The constitution doesn’t allow prosecutors to hold one activist responsible for actions taken by others simply because they voice similar political demands.

When the Atlanta Solidarity Fund refused to back down, DeKalb County changed tactics: a judge denied bond for 22 of the 23 defendants arrested and charged with domestic terrorism during the March week of action. These defendants remained in jail for approximately two and half weeks before a judge finally approved bond, which was posted in many cases by the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. Meanwhile, Georgia authorities continued using lawfare tactics to deter Stop Cop City protesters. In April, several activists were charged with felony intimidation of an officer and misdemeanor stalking for distributing flyers calling for officer accountability for the murder of Tortuguita, an activist killed by police with both hands up in January. In the face of this intimidation, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund continued to support the movement.

This week, prosecutors ratcheted up the lawfare campaign against the Stop Cop City movement to an absurd degree, this time by charging the Atlanta Solidarity Fund with money laundering and charity fraud. The arrest warrants list alleged crimes committed by the Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTAF) movement broadly, including throwing Molotov cocktails, arson, and vandalism, before alleging that the Atlanta Solidarity Fund “affirmed their cooperation with DTAF by providing material support in the form or [sic] payments, reimbursements to DTAF members.” The alleged charity fraud includes reimbursement for camping supplies, forest cleanup, covid tests, and yard signs for members of the activist movement. The alleged money laundering involves a transfer of $48,000 to Siskiyou Mutual Aid, who later returned the funds. None of the crimes alleged amount to any serious malfeasance in the operation of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. The aspersions are clearly intended to stifle financial solidarity and engage in retribution against one of the organizations fighting state repression of protesters. 

Lawfare campaigns against charity organizations are nothing new. Restrictions on charities providing material support for terrorism have long hamstrung peacebuilding and humanitarian organizations operating in areas the US has viewed as terrorist controlled. Palestinian solidarity movements have long been a target. Famously, in 2004, five leaders of the largest Islamic charity in the US, the Holy Land Foundation, were charged with providing material support for terrorism. There is also prosecutorial precedent for the sabotage of environmental and animal rights organizations through spurious charges for violation of financial crime statutes. In 2016 and 2017, Greenpeace and other environmental organizations were charged under RICO, with prosecutors alleging that a mistaken claim amounted to fraud intended to deceive donors. The charges hung over Greenpeace for several years until the case was thrown out by a judge in 2019.

The campaign against bail funds is also nothing new. Following the 2020 George Floyd protests, state legislatures have passed a spate of bills narrowing the kind of cases in which charitable bail funds can post bond. No such restrictions apply to bail bond companies. Criminal charges and jail time can derail defendants’ lives even if charges are eventually dropped or the defendant is acquitted; bail funds have been a target because they can serve as a corrective against prosecutorial entrepreneurship and exploitation of the legal system. Previously, attacks on bail funds have been limited to legislative restrictions; the decision to pursue criminal charges against the Atlanta Solidarity Fund portends a dangerous precedent with ramifications for bail funds across the country.

These charges are clearly another step in the repression of the Stop Cop City movement. To glimpse the intent of the charges against the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, one needs to look no further than the statement of Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr:

“Today’s arrests are about the violence that occurred at the site of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center and elsewhere. As we have said before, we will not rest until we have held accountable every person who has funded, organized, or participated in this violence and intimidation.” 

Since the inception of the movement, the state has invoked creative (and likely unconstitutional) use of spurious charges to tie up protesters in legal proceedings that limit their ability to continue activism. Conditions of bond have involved restrictions on contact with the Stop Cop City movement, and prosecutors have painted with a broad brush. From domestic terrorism charges to felonies for flyering to the current charity fraud charges, the intent of the lawfare war against the Stop Cop City movement has always been to deter activism and criminalize dissent. 

Defending Rights & Dissent stands with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund in their fight against these outsized and retaliatory charges.