Whether you enjoy online gaming or debating, or you have a teenager who likes to play jokes with friends, you understand that the temptation to play a prank is sometimes too great to resist. Some pranks are not only illegal, but can be deadly as well, which could land you or your child in legal hot water. You and other New Yorkers need to understand the serious ramifications of the prank called swatting.

Swatting is named for the prank’s intent of drawing SWAT teams or armed law enforcement to a person’s house after a prankster makes a false call to authorities. You may remember an incident last December that resulted in the death of a Kansas man. As the Huffington Post recaps, the man was shot by police when they mistakenly thought he was reaching for a weapon. He had been the unintended target of a swatting prank after an online gaming dispute.

The FBI reports that there are roughly 400 swatting pranks a year across the country. Often, law enforcement quickly determines that the call was false, but sometimes the target’s home is searched, with the frightened residents put in handcuffs until the misunderstanding is sorted out. As in the above example, in rare cases the prank can take a tragic turn. The man who made the call, as well as two others involved in the gaming dispute, are facing criminal charges.

Recently, a New York representative introduced a bill to more accurately define the circumstances of swatting, instead of lumping the prank in with false police reports or making false threats. The bill also sought to recover the significant costs of investigating a swatting attack. As you can imagine, facing swatting charges can have lifelong consequences. This information is not meant to replace the advice of a lawyer.

At the Law Office of Scott G. Cerbin, Esq., PLLC, in New York, we know that facing federal criminal charges is a very frightening experience. Your freedom is at stake, you could have to pay very substantial fines if convicted, and your reputation is in shambles.

Having RICO charges filed against you is particularly frightening, even though all RICO crimes are of the white collar variety and not violent. Nevertheless, the very acronym RICO conjures up visions of relentless Elliott Ness-type agents in “Untouchables” organizations taking on and convicting such notorious Prohibition-era gangsters as Al Capone.

As explained by the Offices of the United States Attorneys, however, Congress did not pass RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act,  until 1970. Italian Mafia members were its original targets. Over the past 47 years, however, federal law enforcement officials and prosecutors have used the RICO statute to prosecute people they believed were engaged in any of the following:

• Money laundering
• Embezzlement
• Counterfeiting
• Bribery
• Mail fraud
• Any other type of racketeering covered by the RICO statute

Elements of proof

The prosecutor must prove all five of the following elements to convict you of a RICO violation:

1. Something called an enterprise existed.
2. It employed you or you were somehow part of it.
3. You and it committed acts a/k/a predicates that affected interstate commerce.
4. You and it committed at least two predicates within a single decade.
5. The activities of you and it amounted to a racketeering pattern.

“Enterprise” defined

For RICO purposes, an enterprise can be a corporation, partnership or any formal legal entity; an informal entity such as a loose association whose members act together; or two individuals who act in concert with each other.

“Racketeering pattern” defined

To qualify as a closed-end pattern, the two or more prohibited predicates that you and the entity allegedly committed had to occur within a 10-year period and pose a continuing threat in the future. To qualify as an open-ended pattern, you and the entity need only to have committed one recent predicate, but it, too, must pose a continuing future threat.

If convicted of multiple RICO violations, you could spend up to 20 years in prison for each separate conviction. You also face an extremely high fine for each conviction. It could be as high as $250,000 or twice the amount of money or other proceeds you and the entity received from your illegal activities.

For more information on this subject, please visit this page of our website.

A 2014 media investigation uncovered the fact that foreign investors or LLCs were buying up condos in Manhattan, according to The Week. In fact, they purchased nearly a third of the condos in larger area developments between 2008 and 2014. The U.S. Treasury Department began tracking real estate sales to unknown foreign investors in 2016 for just the Miami-Dade County and Manhattan areas. In just a few months, investigators determined that more than one-fourth of all cash transactions for luxury apartments were suspicious and widened the scope of the investigation.

Along with the attraction of having valuable holdings in one of the world’s foremost cities, these foreign investors are attracted to the New York market because of the potential to launder money. What’s more, they are being advised by high-profile, American attorneys about how to move questionable money into the U.S. That advice? Buy New York real estate.

FindLaw defines money laundering, a federal crime, as financial transactions using proceeds from criminal activities. It is a method of hiding the ownership, location, source or control of money from these operations. After laundering, it appears to have come from legitimate sources.

If you are being investigated or have been charged with money laundering, defenses can include:

• Not knowing the source or nature of the money
• Not intending to support or take park in crimes
• Not trying to hide the source of the money
• Entrapment by law enforcement representatives

To be found guilty of money laundering, the accused must make financial transactions with the knowledge that the funds involved are criminal proceeds. Transactions include wire transfers, sales, deposits, loans, title transfers and more.

This article on money laundering is general in nature. It should not replace the advice of an attorney.