18 U.S.C. § 875 – Interstate Communications (Threatening Communications)
This law makes it a federal crime to transmit threatening or extortionate communications in interstate or foreign commerce.
This statute targets threats and extortion carried out through communications that cross state or national boundaries.
It applies to communications transmitted by any interstate or foreign means that contain threats involving kidnapping, bodily harm, property damage, reputational harm, or demands for ransom or other things of value.
What the law prohibits.
A person violates this statute if they:
- Transmit in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing a demand or request for ransom or reward for the release of a kidnapped person
- With intent to extort money or another thing of value, transmit in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing a threat to kidnap any person or to injure the person of another
- Transmit in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing a threat to kidnap any person or to injure the person of another
- With intent to extort money or another thing of value, transmit in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing a threat to injure property or reputation, to injure the reputation of a deceased person, or to accuse any person of a crime
Penalties.
A violation involving a ransom demand for a kidnapped person, or an extortionate threat to kidnap or injure a person, is punishable by a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both.
A violation involving a non-extortionate threat to kidnap or injure a person is punishable by a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.
A violation involving an extortionate threat to injure property or reputation, to injure the reputation of a deceased person, or to accuse a person of a crime is punishable by a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.
If you’re being investigated or charged under a federal interstate threat or extortion statute, call (314) 900-HELP or contact our criminal defense attorneys to discuss your options.
