Washington state agencies are using racketeering laws to pursue criminal charges in secret against the King Ranch family. Attorney Tony detailed the shift on Bitcoin & Economic News. The state’s Environmental Protection Division invoked an organized crime statute to hold sealed hearings, blocking the family from seeing evidence or even the original petition.
State prosecutors subpoenaed a young ranch employee and attempted to force testimony against his employers without a defense lawyer present. Attorneys were physically removed to the hallway while the judge and prosecutors questioned the employee privately. The state quashed the subpoena after public pressure, but did so “without prejudice,” leaving felony charges unresolved.
“They held hearings under seal, effectively keeping the King family in the dark about the evidence against them.”
- Tony, Bitcoin & Economic News
The state’s civil case began with a $267,000 fine based on a Google Earth photo alleging damage to alkali wetlands. When the family hired experts who found no wetlands, prosecutors pivoted. They now claim disturbance of “cultural resources,” a category covering potential archaeological sites. A judge granted a preliminary injunction based on this new claim, evicting the family from a 12,000-acre lease.
The lease loss has a domino effect. The ranch operates on a checkerboard of private and leased land; losing the lease blocks access to the family’s owned acreage. Tony argues agencies are seeking a legal change through courts they couldn’t achieve legislatively.
A critical tactical move involves geography. The state fights to relocate cases from local rural counties to Thurston County, home to the capital Olympia. Judges there lack context for dry-land ranching. The 150-mile distance imposes a financial and logistical burden on defendants who manage livestock daily. It isolates ranchers from a jury of peers who understand land stewardship.
“They are moving rural land disputes to urban courts to strip ranchers of local judicial context.”
- Bitcoin & Economic News
The ranch faces five simultaneous legal actions: a fine appeal, a lease default lawsuit, the secret criminal investigation, an APA suit, and a separate lease cancellation. The unresolved criminal jeopardy hampers defense in all other actions. State budgets reliant on finding violations drive the overreach.
