OpenAI Faces Georgia RICO Suit Over $20 Billion Project Camellia Site

Three Georgia residents filed an 11-count racketeering complaint against OpenAI on Nov. 6, alleging officials in Effingham County concealed a data center campus now valued between $20 billion and $30 billion until the deal was irreversible. The suit, lodged in Effingham County State Court, invokes Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and seeks treble damages plus a jury trial.

The complaint names OpenAI OpCo LLC, its affiliate Octans GA LLC, the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority, Savannah Industrial Development LLC, six county commissioners, County Manager Tim Callanan and authority CEO Brandt Herndon. Plaintiffs Dr. Michelle Finch-Mincey, Lehman Mincey Jr. and Raymond Carver, who lives next to the site, bring counts of fraudulent concealment, fraud, civil conspiracy and RICO violations. None of the allegations has been tested in court.

How the deal stayed quiet

According to the complaint, Herndon signed a nondisclosure agreement with OpenAI on Oct. 27, 2025. NDAs later reached other officials, including the county manager.

The authority met on July 21 under an agenda that listed only "Project Gateway," entered closed session and unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with Octans. Three days later, on July 24, officials signed a deed for roughly 1,440 acres of the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub for recited consideration of $10.

The suit further alleges commissioners adopted Ordinance 2026-352 on Aug. 4, presented as a technical correction, without the two public hearings state rules require.

What is Project Camellia?

The campus is planned as four buildings totaling about 4.4 million square feet. The Southern Environmental Law Center put the announced cost at $20 billion, the figure disclosed July 22, and estimated the tax abatement at nearly $900 million. Tom's Hardware has described the project as 3.2 gigawatts and $30 billion. Georgia Power's power contract for the campus remains sealed, as MLQ.ai reported last week.

The discrepancy between the $20 billion and $30 billion figures reflects the fast-moving scope of hyperscale announcements rather than any confirmed capital plan.

Who has responded?

A spokesperson for the county commissioners said the board does not comment on pending litigation. County leaders have previously denied the residents' claims. OpenAI and the development authority had not responded to WTOC's requests for comment.

Plaintiffs' attorney Ben Michaud framed the case narrowly: it is "not an attack against the use of AI," he said, but a demand for transparency.

Is this the only legal challenge?

The RICO suit is at least the third legal action against the campus. The same three residents filed a zoning challenge in September; that case is pending, with a motion to dismiss outstanding. On Sept. 21, the Southern Environmental Law Center, One Hundred Miles and residents sued the development authority under Georgia's Open Meetings and Open Records Acts, targeting the July approval and the land sale to Octans.

Commissioners separately delayed their own vote on the project on election night, Nov. 3. OpenAI has pledged roughly 1 GW of demand response in Georgia under its Grid Protectors program.

The combined litigation now threatens the permitting timeline for one of the largest single-campus AI data center builds in the Southeast, with the RICO damages claim compounding the financial exposure already raised by the open-meetings and zoning challenges.