Former President Donald J. Trump was indicted for a fourth time on Monday, this time over what prosecutors in Atlanta described as his and his allies’ efforts to unlawfully undo his election loss in Georgia in 2020.

The indictment follows a prolonged investigation by Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and contains 13 costs in opposition to Mr. Trump, in addition to costs in opposition to 18 different Trump allies who Ms. Willis stated had been a part of a “criminal enterprise” in search of to overturn the Georgia election outcomes.

Here’s what to know.

Trump was charged beneath Georgia’s RICO Act

Prosecutors charged Mr. Trump and his allies beneath the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, which permits them to tie collectively varied crimes dedicated by totally different individuals by arguing that they had been performing collectively for a typical legal aim.

Georgia’s RICO Act is patterned after a federal regulation that was handed to fight organized crime teams however in recent times has been used successfully in white-collar crime and political corruption instances.

At its coronary heart, the statute requires prosecutors to show the existence of an “enterprise” and a “pattern of racketeering activity.” Ms. Willis stated 19 defendants had been a part of a legal enterprise that attempted to “accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the president’s office.”

Among these charged: Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows.

The costs outlined within the indictment attain far past Mr. Trump to a few of his closest allies. They embrace Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s former chief of employees, and Rudolph W. Giuliani, the previous New York City mayor and lawyer for Mr. Trump.

Also charged are a number of extra legal professionals who’re accused of working to attempt to overturn the election: Sidney Powell, who once promised to “release the Kraken” in exposing purported election fraud; John C. Eastman, who helped promote the concept of utilizing bogus Trump electors in states the place Mr. Trump misplaced; and Kenneth Chesebro, who additionally performed a central position in that effort.

The sprawling nature of the racketeering case is famous within the indictment, with prosecutors citing conduct in Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania that they are saying furthered the defendants’ efforts to maintain Mr. Trump in energy.

Ms. Willis stated late on Monday that she plans to strive all 19 defendants collectively.

The costs fall into a number of baskets.

The indictment bundles collectively a number of efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to reverse the election leads to Georgia. None of the 19 defendants is accused of collaborating in all of these totally different schemes, however beneath the RICO regulation, prosecutors must show solely that every one broke state legal guidelines as a part of a unbroken legal enterprise with the identical overarching aim.

Several of the person counts stem from false claims of election fraud that Mr. Giuliani and two different Trump legal professionals, Robert Cheeley and Ray Smith III, made at legislative hearings in December 2020.

Another batch of costs considerations a plan Mr. Trump’s supporters carried out to vote for a false slate of pro-Trump electors and ship a cast doc to Congress claiming these electors had been legit.

A 3rd raft of costs accuses a number of Trump allies of conspiring to steal voter information and tamper with voting equipment on the elections workplace in Coffee County, Ga.

The district lawyer is giving Trump 10 days to show himself in.

Ms. Willis stated on Monday that she was giving Mr. Trump till midday on Aug. 25 to give up in Fulton County, the place he can be arraigned on the fees and enter a plea.

When Mr. Trump was indicted in New York, he was capable of give up and keep away from a few of the customary procedures for many people who find themselves arrested, akin to having his mug shot taken and being handcuffed.

Patrick Labat, the Fulton County sheriff, stated this month that except he was advised in any other case, Mr. Trump can be booked in the identical method as another defendant.

Still, the Secret Service might attempt to change the sheriff’s plans.

Trump blasted the indictment and questioned the prosecutor’s motive.

Mr. Trump lashed out at Ms. Willis after the indictment, suggesting that she had charged him to additional her personal political standing and seizing on the truth that an improper copy of the indictment had reportedly been uploaded to a court docket web site even earlier than the grand jurors voted.

Earlier within the day, Reuters reported that a document that seemed to be a docket entry for an indictment in opposition to Mr. Trump had been posted, after which faraway from, the Fulton County court docket’s web site. A spokesman for the court docket referred to as the doc “fictitious,” and the court docket clerk, Ché Alexander, declined to debate what had occurred intimately.

Mr. Trump and his allies stated it was an indication that the prosecution noticed the grand jury’s vote, which happened later within the day, as a foregone conclusion.

Richard Fausset, Danny Hakim and Anna Betts contributed reporting from Atlanta.