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While you believe that extortion only happens in smoky back rooms or among shady Mafia characters, it can happen right here at your fingertips. Many statutes also provide that any threat to harm another person in his or her career or reputation is extortion.
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Other types of threats sufficient to constitute extortion include those to harm the victim's business and those to either testify against the victim or withhold testimony necessary to his or her defense or claim in an administrative proceeding or a lawsuit. The threat does not have to relate to an unlawful act. It may be sufficient to threaten to accuse another person of a crime or to expose a secret that would result in public embarrassment or ridicule. It is not necessary for a threat to involve physical injury. Threats to harm the victim's friends or relatives may also be included. Virtually all extortion statutes require that a threat must be made to the person or property of the victim. If any method of interstate commerce is used in the extortion, it can be a federal crime. Fearing that he or his business will suffer harm otherwise, Victor agrees to pay Dan.Įxtortion can take place over the telephone, via mail, text, email or other computer or wireless communication. For example, Dan goes to Victor's place of business and demands monthly payment from Victor for the business's "protection" from vandalism and after-hours theft.
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Inherent in this common form of extortion is the threat to expose the details of someone's private lives to the public unless money is exchanged.Īnother common extortion crime is offering "protection" to a businessman to keep his business safe from burglary or vandalism.
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Blackmail is a form of extortion in which the threat is to expose embarrassing and damaging information to family, friends, or the public. While usually viewed as a form of theft/larceny, extortion differs from robbery in that the threat in question does not pose an imminent physical danger to the victim.Įxtortion is a felony in all states. 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. The following is an overview of the crime. Per the above illustration, extortion is the crime of obtaining money or property by threat to a victim's property or loved ones, intimidation, or false claim of a right. The shopkeeper relents, agreeing to pay him a set amount each week. The man casually lists the names of her four children and states he wouldn't want anything "bad" to happen to them. A large, intimidating man walks into a profitable liquor store in the heart of the city, not to buy anything but to offer "protection" to the shopkeeper (for a weekly fee, of course).