18 U.S.C. § 1962 · A outline

A · Element outline

Labels preserve the recorded AND / OR / EXCEPTION / DEFENSE structure.

Claim structure

Expression key: & = AND; | = OR; ! = exclusion / negation. Parentheses preserve grouping.

18usc1962:(a)

person & (pattern & racketeering | debt) & investment & enterprise & commerce & !open-market-investment

Subsection (a) targets investment/laundering of racketeering income or unlawful-debt proceeds into an enterprise ("prize" or "investment target"). Civil plaintiffs must show injury flowing from the use/investment of racketeering income, not merely from the predicate acts.

18usc1962:(b)

person & (pattern & racketeering | debt) & acquisition & enterprise & commerce

Subsection (b) targets acquisition or maintenance of an interest in or control of an enterprise ("victim" or "target") through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.

18usc1962:(c)

person & enterprise & commerce & association & conduct & (pattern & racketeering | debt)

Subsection (c) is the workhorse RICO offense: conducting or participating in the conduct of an enterprise's affairs ("vehicle") through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.

18usc1962:(d)

person & conspiracy

Subsection (d) proscribes conspiring to violate subsection (a), (b), or (c). Under Salinas, requires no overt act and no personal agreement to commit two predicates, though civil (d) claims fail if the substantive (a)-(c) claim fails.

18usc1962:civil

((a) | (b) | (c) | (d)) & injury & causation & !x-statute-of-limitations & !x-release-prior-class-settlement

Private treble-damages suit via 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c) requires injury to "business or property" and both but-for and proximate causation ("by reason of").

Constraints

Under § 1962(c), the culpable "person" and the "enterprise" must be distinct entities, though a corporate owner/employee is legally distinct from the incorporated enterprise.

Applies to § 1962(c) ("employed by or associated with"), not necessarily to § 1962(a) where a corporate enterprise may invest racketeering income in itself.

Enterprise and pattern of racketeering activity are distinct elements, but the same trial evidence may support inferring both.

The enterprise is the "prize" or "victim" acquired or invested in under (a) and (b), but is the "vehicle" through which unlawful activity is conducted under (c).

Law modes, protocols and effects

law

Law kind: substantive

Statute text with element anchors

Overlapping highlights link to the first element; the anchor key links every associated element. All offsets refer to unchanged source text.

§1962. Prohibited activities
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt in which such person has participated as a principal within the meaning of section 2, title 18, United States Code, to use or invest, directly or indirectly, any part of such income, or the proceeds of such income, in acquisition of any interest in, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. A purchase of securities on the open market for purposes of investment, and without the intention of controlling or participating in the control of the issuer, or of assisting another to do so, shall not be unlawful under this subsection if the securities of the issuer held by the purchaser, the members of his immediate family, and his or their accomplices in any pattern or racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt after such purchase do not amount in the aggregate to one percent of the outstanding securities of any one class, and do not confer, either in law or in fact, the power to elect one or more directors of the issuer.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person through a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, any interest in or control of any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce.
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.
(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section. (Added Pub. L. 91–452, title IX, §901(a), Oct. 15, 1970, 84 Stat. 942 ; amended Pub. L. 100–690, title VII, §7033, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4398 .)
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