RICO used to seek $300 billion from tobacco industry.
The AP reported on February 19, 2010 that the Obama Administration "asked the US Supreme Court on Friday to allow the government to seek nearly $300 billion from the tobacco industry for a half-century of deception that 'has cost the lives and damaged the health of untold millions of Americans.'" The Administration "wants the court to throw out rulings that bar the government from collecting $280 billion of past tobacco profits and $14 billion for a national campaign to curb smoking." Meanwhile, "leading tobacco companies want the justices to wipe away court rulings that the industry illegally concealed the dangers of cigarette smoking," and "if they succeed, the attack on their profits also would be halted."
The New York Times also noted that a "consortium of health and antitobacco groups also filed a petition with the Supreme Court Friday supporting the return of profits. 'The government is asking for a much more expansive set of remedies than it asked for at the conclusion of the trial or before the Court of Appeals,' said Matthew L. Myers, a lawyer and president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids."
