Generally, legitimate labor activities are not prohibited by the Hobbs Act. Any person who threatens or communicates a threat or threats to another with the intention thereby wrongfully to obtain anything of value or any acquittance, advantage, or immunity is guilty of extortion and such person shall be punished as a Class F felon. When a person mistakenly believes that some other person owes him/her money and asks for payment, such acts will not amount to the offense of extortion. On February 15, 2011, Spanish police apprehended a man who attempted to blackmail Nintendo over customer information he had stolen. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime. Art. The RICO Act only requires proof of the defendant’s association with illegal activities of the enterprise and associated outsiders who participate in a racketeering enterprise’s affairs may also be held liable for a RICO violation. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Get Your Divorce Online! California’s extortion statute, which defines the offense based on two elements, the alleged perpetrator’s objective and the means used, offers a good example of extortion’s legal definition. In England and Wales extorting property and money by coercion is the offence of blackmail which covers any "unwarranted demand with menaces" including physical threats. [11], On February 7, 2019, Jeffrey P. Bezos, owner of Amazon and The Washington Post and currently the world's wealthiest person, accused the National Enquirer and its parent company American Media, Inc., of attempting to extort him by threatening to reveal nude pictures of him unless he publicly stated that he "[has] no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces." In the United States, extortion may also be committed as a federal crime across a computer system, phone, by mail, or in using any instrument of interstate commerce. Ct. 1930). Extortion requires communication of a threat, verbally or in writing, with a clear connection between the threat and a demand. Certain federal officials are subject to additional statutes of regulations regarding extortion, such as laws prohibiting customs officials from demanding additional fees at ports. Nintendo notified authorities and the man was arrested in Málaga. The use of force, or the threat of force, to obtain money, something else of value, or services from a person is often known as the criminal offense of extortion. The scope given to the offense of extortion in a particular legal system is determined partly by the content of the related offense of robbery. This was because both the crimes were considered to be done by public officers only. However, there is contrary authority. The unlawful exaction of money through intimidation was a complement of bribery in the early ages. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website. Most states define extortion as the gaining of property or money by almost any kind of force or threat of violence, property damage, harm to reputation, or unfavorable government action. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Extortion requires that the individual sent the message willingly and knowingly as elements of the crime. The purpose of the RICO Act is to curb the menace of organized crime and to prevent it from financial infiltration of legitimate business operations affecting interstate commerce. Moreover, there must be a causal relationship between the threat and the victim's surrender of property. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ) is the federal law which includes sanctions for the crime of extortion but goes much further than that aspect in seeking to protect interstate commerce, as discussed below. The difference is in the nature of the threat. The term “pattern” thus requires at least two acts of racketeering activity within a 10-year period. Robbery is typically confined to taking property from the person or presence of the victim by violence or by threat to do an immediate physical harm. There is no need to prove that the public officer had intention to extract money from the person. Need a Personal Loan? With intent to extort money or pecuniary advantage as to compel the person so threatened to do or refrain from doing an act against his/her will. For the album by KMFDM, see, Criminal offense of obtaining benefit through coercion, The examples and perspective in this article, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Extortion: Laws, Penalties and Sentencing", "Exaction - definition of exaction by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia", "Exact definition - Dictionary - MSN Encarta", "Brand.com's Mike Zammuto Discusses Meetup.com Extortion", "Alleged Cyber-Extortionist Indicted: Feds Say Anthony Digati Tried To Chill, Defame Business On Internet To Extract $200,000 In Bizarre Social-Networking Plot", "Anthony Digati arrested for allegedly threatening New York Life with email spam attack", "Police arrest man over Nintendo extortion", "Jeff Bezos announces divorce from MacKenzie Bezos after 25 years together", "Psychotherapy centre's database hacked, patient info held ransom", "Extortionist publishes more sensitive data on psychotherapy centres' patients", "Therapy patients in Finland blackmailed after data breach", "Psychotherapy centre data breach victims receive extortion emails", "Tietoturva | Terapiapotilaisiin kohdistunut tietomurto on voinut vaarantaa tuhansien ihmisten tietosuojan, kyseessä on täysin "poikkeuksellinen tapahtuma, "Kiristäjä julkaisi suomalaisten arkaluontoisia terapiakeskusteluja – vaatii 450 000:ta euroa tai jatkoa seuraa", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Extortion&oldid=985733973, Articles lacking reliable references from August 2019, Articles with limited geographic scope from August 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2019, All Wikipedia articles needing clarification, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from August 2019, Articles with Encyclopædia Britannica links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 27 October 2020, at 17:08.