George E. Norcross III has filed a $100 million lawsuit in Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas against The Philadelphia Inquirer, editor Nancy Phillips, two entities associated with the newspaper and as many as 10 unidentified defendants. The complaint asserts defamation, false light, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process and civil conspiracy, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages, interest and a jury trial, according to NJ.com and Big Trial.
The civil claims follow the criminal case’s dismissal
The lawsuit follows the dismissal of a racketeering prosecution against Norcross, his brother Philip Norcross, former Camden Mayor Dana Redd and three other defendants. The June 2024 indictment alleged that the group operated a criminal enterprise to obtain Camden waterfront property and use $1.6 billion in state tax incentives, according to CBS Philadelphia.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw dismissed the 111-page indictment in February 2025, ruling that the alleged conduct did not amount to criminal extortion under New Jersey law. A three-judge Appellate Division panel later affirmed the dismissal. Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced in February that the state would not ask the New Jersey Supreme Court to review the decision, according to Courthouse News.
What the complaint says about the interview
What the incentive rules require
The complaint’s $1.6 billion figure describes the state tax incentives the indictment alleged the group sought to use. Separately, according to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Grow NJ recipients must maintain at least 80% of their full-time New Jersey workforce and 80% of the jobs specified in their incentive agreements or forfeit credits for affected tax periods. That requirement does not by itself establish how much public support was authorized or awarded for Camden waterfront redevelopment, or what outcomes the projects produced.
The complaint focuses on notes Phillips made during an August 2019 interview with Susan Bass Levin, a former Cherry Hill mayor who was then president of the Cooper Foundation and chair of Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, now called Camden Community Partnership. Norcross’s lawsuit says the notes attributed to Levin statements that he berated a Cooper University Health Care executive, sought the removal of Cooper’s Ferry officials and played an aggressive role in the L3 waterfront office transaction. Norcross chaired Cooper’s board at the time, according to the complaint as reported by NJ.com.
According to the complaint, Levin told federal agents and state prosecutors during a September 2023 proffer session that she had not made those statements. It says she did not recall Norcross berating the executive and believed that allegation was untrue, as reported by Big Trial.
Ten pages of the notes later appeared in discovery records produced by the state Attorney General’s Office. The lawsuit does not identify who supplied them to prosecutors. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Phillips shared the notes with an unidentified person outside the newspaper for her own edification, while that person said the material was not passed to authorities directly by Phillips. That account comes from The Philadelphia Inquirer and is not an established finding in the civil case.
The newspaper disputes Norcross’s allegations
Norcross alleges that Phillips distorted or invented portions of the interview and that information from the notes was incorporated into the June 2024 indictment. He also alleges that she was motivated by hostility connected to her relationship with Lewis Katz, who was involved in an earlier ownership struggle over the Inquirer. Those assertions are allegations in the complaint, reported by POLITICO and Big Trial.
In a memo to newsroom staff, Inquirer Executive Editor Gabriel Escobar called the accusation that Phillips collaborated with state prosecutors “false and outrageous.” He said the notes were not provided directly to law enforcement by the newspaper. An Inquirer spokesperson and Phillips declined further comment because of the litigation, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Norcross’s spokesperson, Dan Fee, said any award would be donated to public education and public safety programs in Camden, Pennsauken and Philadelphia, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
