George Norcross, the New Jersey insurance executive who has long influenced Democratic politics without holding elected office, filed a $100 million lawsuit Thursday against The Philadelphia Inquirer and former editor Nancy Phillips in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The five-count complaint alleges that Phillips created notes containing fabricated statements from a 2019 interview with Susan Bass Levin, then co-chair of the Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, and that the notes eventually reached New Jersey prosecutors. Norcross claims the material became part of the foundation of the state’s 2024 racketeering case against him and several political and business associates. That case, which centered in part on tax incentives and real estate transactions in Camden, was dismissed in 2025. A New Jersey appeals court upheld the dismissal earlier this year. Norcross’ complaint focuses on the sale of the L3 building in Camden. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority had been expected to sell the property to Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, now known as Camden Community Partnership, but instead sold it to a private company. The lawsuit alleges Norcross pressured officials during the transaction. According to the complaint, Phillips’ notes portrayed Norcross as a dominant figure in the deal and described him as openly berating John Sheridan, who chaired Cooper’s Ferry and led Cooper Health. The notes allegedly also said Norcross threatened to fire two Cooper Ferry executives. The lawsuit says Levin later gave prosecutors a different account in a 2023 interview, including rejecting the word “berated.” Norcross’ filing does not identify factual inaccuracies in the newspaper’s broader coverage of his political and business activities before the indictment. The newspaper has previously acknowledged that Phillips typed the notes but said she did not provide them directly to prosecutors. The notes were later found in an electronic folder labeled “Stier documents,” referring to Edwin Stier, a former state and federal prosecutor who was cited in the newspaper’s coverage. A spokesperson for The Philadelphia Inquirer declined to comment on the lawsuit. Norcross also alleges that Phillips had a personal bias against him because of her relationship with Lewis Katz, a former business partner of Norcross and a brief co-owner of the newspaper. Katz died in a 2014 plane crash. The complaint further alleges that Phillips made unsupported suggestions linking Norcross to the deaths of Katz and Sheridan; it does not cite evidence for those claims. Norcross says the newspaper publicly separated Phillips from coverage involving him because of her relationship with Katz, while privately allowing her to direct what he characterizes as an obsessive campaign of negative reporting. The complaint cites a message Phillips allegedly sent to Norcross’ daughter, Lexie, on the day of his indictment: “Thinking of you today.” The lawsuit alleges defamation, false light, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process and conspiracy. Norcross has pledged to donate any money recovered to public education and public safety programs in Camden, Pennsauken and Philadelphia. Pennsylvania law generally sets a one-year deadline for defamation and false-light claims and two years for the other claims in the lawsuit. Norcross argues that the deadline should be extended because he did not have a reasonable opportunity to investigate how the notes were handled until earlier this year. His spokesperson, Dan Fee, said the state’s tolling rules may allow the defamation deadline to be delayed.