What Is Extortion?

Traditionally the crime of extortion only covered actions done by public or

government officials. Today, however, this unlawful act applies to the conduct of
private citizens as well. (In some states, extortion involves public officials' actions,
while blackmail applies to those of private citizens, even though the conduct is
similar.) Let's break down the elements of extortion.

Defining Extortion

A person commits extortion by:

 attempting to gain money, property, or something of value

 by threatening another with personal or reputational harm

 with a corrupt or unlawful intent.

Attempting to Gain Property, Money, or Something of Value

The type of property an offender tries to obtain when using extortion encompasses
almost anything that has value. However, the property doesn't need to be actual
physical property or have a dollar value. It's also not necessary for the accused to
actually deprive the victim of property, as attempting to extort property constitutes a
crime as well.

Courts have held that the property involved in extortion can include such property as
cash, tangible goods, liquor licenses, debts, and even agreements not to compete in
business. Typically, sexual acts are covered, though some states have specific laws
that govern sexual extortion, such as Arizona.

Communicating a Threat

Extortion requires the actor to make some type of threat that states an intention to
commit an injury or harmful action against the victim. The threat itself must be able to
cause fear in the victim. The fear can be based on almost anything, such as the fear of
violence, economic loss, social stigma, deportation, or anything else that might cause
the victim to act or hand over the property. For example, under California's law, a
person can commit extortion by threatening to injure the victim or another person,
accuse the victim of a crime or of some other disgraceful conduct, expose a secret, or
report a person to immigration.
An offender can make the threat verbally, in writing, or even through non-verbal
gestures or other communications. In some states, merely making a threat is enough to
qualify as a crime, whether or not the victim felt fearful.

Unlawful Conduct Done With a Corrupt Intent

A person commits extortion when making a threat with the specific intention of
forcing another person to provide money, property, or something of value. A person
who merely made a mistake of fact or a miscalculation does not have corrupt intent.

Intent is not based on the defendant's statements alone. The circumstances and facts
surrounding the threat also help to show the actor's intent. In other words, a prosecutor
can prove the accused intended to deprive the victim of property without having to
actually show what was going on in the defendant's head.

Types of Extortion
Every state government, as well as the federal government, has laws making extortion
a crime. Some break it down even further and list different types of extortion.

Blackmail as a Type of Extortion

Quite often, extortion and blackmail are used interchangeably. Blackmail occurs when
an offender extorts money from a victim by threats of accusation or exposure. When
we think of blackmail, we usually think of hush money or a bribe to keep someone
silent. Extortion itself usually encompasses a broader range of conduct than
blackmail.

Threats as a Type of Extortion

As previously discussed, extortion requires the offender to make some kind of threat
toward the victim. Unlike blackmail, where the defendant extorts money through a
threat, some threats simply involve an offender doing something harmful to the
victim. For example, the unlawful actor might threaten to injure the victim or another
person, accuse the victim of a crime or of some other disgraceful conduct, expose a
secret, or report a person to immigration.

Cyber Extortion

Cyber extortion has been around since computers were first introduced; however, it's
now more prevalent than ever, as computers have become more integrated into our
everyday lives. An example of cyber extortion involves someone threatening to
release all the confidential data of a business unless the business complies with their
monetary demands. Individuals can fall prey to cyber extortion as well.

Federal Law on Extortion

The Hobbs Act is the federal statute relating to extortion. It prohibits extortion or
robbery by a public official. This unlawful act occurs when a public official uses their
office as a means of unlawfully obtaining money from another person. We often think
of this as someone taking a bribe.

What Are the Penalties for Extortion?

Prosecutors can charge extortion as a felony or misdemeanor, depending on the
circumstances surrounding the offense and the history of the defendant.

State Penalties for Extortion

Penalties for extortion vary by state. The severity of the penalty is determined by
whether the prosecutor charges the defendant with a felony or a misdemeanor. In
West Virginia, for example, extortion constitutes a felony, punishable by one to five
years in prison. However, if the offender failed to obtain anything of value, they
receive a misdemeanor charge, which carries two to 12 months in jail and a fine of
$50 to $500.

In Arizona, a defendant who commits extortion by threatening to cause physical

injury or death faces a Class 2 felony conviction, which subjects them to up to 12.5
years in prison for first-time offenders. Other types of threats can result in a Class 4
felony conviction, resulting in up to 15 years in prison, depending on the defendant's
prior convictions.

Federal Penalties for Extortion

Violating the Hobbs Act can result in up to 20 years in federal prison and a substantial
fine. Other acts of extortion under federal law result in lesser penalties, including up
to three years in prison.

Possible Defenses to an Extortion Charge

Defendants facing extortion charges under state or federal law have several potential
defenses available to them.
Actual innocence. Defendants charged with extortion or a similar crime have the
usual defenses available to all criminal defendants, such as "Someone else committed
this crime," or "The alleged conduct did not occur."

Lack of intent. Extortion requires that the defendant had the specific intention of
forcing another person to provide money, property, or something of value by
threatening them. Without that corrupt intent, the crime does not exist.

Absence of threat. To constitute extortion, the actor must make a threat to commit an
injury or harmful action against the victim. If the defendant is able to prove no actual
threat existed, this element of the offense isn't satisfied.

Victim was not fearful. This defense only works in jurisdictions that require the
victim actually felt fear based on the defendant's threats. It might not be as useful in
states where the prosecutor need only prove the threats would cause a reasonable
person to feel fear.

What is Extortion?
Extortion takes place when an entity (an individual or an organization) attempts to
obtain money, property, or other assets from a target using threats or coercion. The
entity may threaten the target with violence, injury, or the disclosure of a secret that
would socially, financially, or legally damage the target.

What are Examples of Extortion?

Extortion laws today cover the actions of both private citizens and public officials. Let’s
look at examples of extortion from each context:

 A police officer suspects that individuals in his neighborhood are involved in a

criminal enterprise. Instead of conducting an investigation, the officer sends the
group a letter threatening to accuse them of a crime and demanding a payment
of $50,000 in exchange for his silence.
 A cybercriminal meets a private sector employee on a dating site and discovers
their home address and place of employment. The criminal threatens to hurt the
employee’s family unless they pay cash or relinquish corporate secrets or data.
 An activist contacts a politician and threatens to target their family unless they
enact (or veto) a specific piece of legislation.

Is Extortion a Crime?
Extortion is a coercive crime that uses a threat to force the target to act against their
best interests, usually by relinquishing their property to the perpetrator. In the United
States, extortion is criminal at both the state and federal levels.

On the state level, extortion is illegal in all 50 states and is usually classified as a Class
B felony. Punishments for extortion can include a $250,000 fine and up to 25 years in
prison.

On the federal level, crime of extortion is created by sections 872, 875, 876, 877, 878,
and 880 of the U.S. Code Title 18, Chapter 41 – Extortion and Threats. Here’s what’s
covered by each section:

 Section 872 makes it illegal for officers or employees of the United States to

commit acts of extortion while representing themselves in an official capacity.
 Sections 875, 876, and 877 make it illegal to transmit extortionate threats
through the United States postage system. 
 Section 878 makes it illegal to extort or threaten any foreign officials, official
guests of the United States, or other internationally protected persons.
 Section 880 makes it illegal to receive or possess the proceeds of extortion.

There’s also the Hobbs Act of 1946, which makes it illegal to commit any act of extortion
that obstructs interstate commerce.

What Qualifies as Extortion?

Extortion is regulated at the state level, so the exact requirements for proving an act of
extortion differs from state to state.

In general, an act qualifies as extortion if the following elements are satisfied:

1. The perpetrator made a threat against the target.

2. The perpetrator intended to leverage the threat against the target to obtain his or
her property or influence his or her actions.
3. The target consented and complied with the perpetrator’s demands because of
the threat.

What is the Difference Between

Extortion and Blackmail?
Both blackmail and extortion are coercive crimes that deprive the victim of their free will
through the use of threats, compelling them to act against their own best interests.
While blackmail and extortion are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not
defined in the same way. 

The key difference between blackmail and extortion is the nature of the threats applied
against the victim. 

Blackmail is characterized by threats of revealing socially or financially damaging

information about the victim. In a blackmail case, the action being threatened would
often be legal on its own, but the threat itself and the attempt to deprive the victim of
property are not.

The crime of extortion includes all types of threats, including threats to reveal
embarrassing information, threats to accuse the victim of a crime, and threats of
violence or injury against the victim or their loved ones.

A public employee could also be guilty of extortion if the official makes a request of anything of
value — such as money or property — when not authorized by law, if the official makes the
request of anyone who is regulated by the public officer or employee. A prosecutor must prove
that the manner in which the request was made carried an express or implied threat that would
cause a reasonable person to comply with the request to avoid the risk of adverse actions taken
by the public employee.

IEBC lawyer Mahat Somane has denied that Venezuelan national Jose Camargo interfered with the
August 9 General Election as alleged by Raila Odinga’s lawyers Julie Soweto and Paul Mwangi.

Somane said that the name Jose Camargo which appeared on a form 34A from Gacharaigu Primary
School polling station in Kangema Constituency, Murang’a County, was an overlay-meaning the image of
the form 34A uploaded on the IEBC portal was taken on top of another document bearing Camargo’s
name.

“A presiding officer took an original form 34A…he had the QR register and he took a picture of it,”
Somane explained.

He said that Carmago was among the people working with Smartmatic International, the company
contracted by IEBC to provide IT support and that numerous documents bear his name.

Somane produced the original form 34A for scrutiny, saying that one
uploaded was just an overlay.
 “The register of the QR code was printed by Smartmatic International was
printed in the name of Jose Carmago,” he added.

The lawyer further argued that the numbers on the uploaded form 34A and
the ones on the form that he had produced in court were the same.

“The document relating to Jose Camargo has come from the QR register
which is distributed to every polling station. The question that someone
called Jose Camargo was interfering with the portal is actually not true. It's
incorrect,” he said.

He argued that there was no way any one could have tampered with the
results since the form 34A uploaded on the portal and the physical form 34A
bore the same contents.

On the issue raised about the forms from Mt. Elgon and Nyeri bearing the
same serial number, Somane said that forms may have had the same serial
number but the KIEMS kit had different IMEI numbers and IP addresses, had
been assigned to different polling stations meaning they had different
identifiers.

“We acknowledge that is an error originated relating to those two KIEMS but
there are other identifiers that can identify those KIEMS are from our
system,” he said.