extortion
Extortion refers to imposing an action or obtaining something by force or coercion . The crime of extortion does exclude legitimate negotiation methods. One example could be a party negotiating a deal with a contractor; neither party could make a threat towards one another in exchange for something in the contract . A legitimate negotiation tactic might include the idea of “ puffing ” (which is making something look reasonably more good than it might otherwise be) Under the color of office , a public or private authority may abuse their authority to commit extortion.
California describes extortion under Section 518 of its penal code as to:
- Threaten or use force against someone or claim official right to make someone do something when one does not have the right to do it (making the victim act “ under color of official right”;
- Intend to make the victim give you something valuable or perform an official act for you;
- Make the victim consent to giving you something valuable or performing an official act; AND
- Actually make the victim give you something valuable or perform an official act.
See e.g.; Evans v. U.S (1992) and U.S v. Gotti (2006)
[Last updated in March of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team ]
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