In the

criminal law of the United States Responsibility for criminal law and criminal justice in the United States is shared between the states and the federal government. Parties to a crime The parties or participants in a crime include the principal and accessory. A principal is a ...

, a predicate crime or offense is a crime which is a component of a larger crime. The larger crime may be

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

financing of terrorism Terrorism financing is the provision of funds or providing financial support to individual terrorists or non-state actors. Most countries have implemented measures to counter terrorism financing (CTF) often as part of their money laundering l ...

, etc. For example, to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), a person must "engage in a pattern of racketeering activity", and in particular, must have committed at least two predicate crimes within 10 years. These include bribery,

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

, counterfeiting, and

illegal gambling Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, ...

. Crimes are predicate to a larger crime if they have a similar purpose to the larger crime. For example, using false identification is itself a crime; it may be a predicate offense to

larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engla ...

if it is used to withdraw money from a bank account. Predicate crimes can be charged separately or together with the larger crime.

Money Laundering

Crimes that are specific to

anti-money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...

(AML) programs have been referred to as Predicate Offenses (or Predicate Crimes) since the establishment of the

FATF The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF), also known by its French name, ''Groupe d'action financière'' (GAFI), is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat mo ...

40 Recommendations in October, 2004. Since 2004, the FATF have updated th
40 Recommendations
to expand the list of predicate offences. Financial intelligence units in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

have created legislation to mirror or expand these offences. In the United States, these offences were initially created by the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 and have subsequently been expanded by the

USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropr ...

. The predicate offences are codified in 18 USC § 1956(c)(7). With the passage of the 6th EU Money Laundering Directive, the European Union has now adopted as standard set of Predicate Offences to mitigate loopholes in member state AML legislation. {, class="wikitable" , + !Offense !EU 6MLD !FinCEN !FATF 2018 !FATF 2004 , - , Arms Trafficking , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Arson , , ✓ , , , - , Concealment of Assets , , ✓ , , , - , Corruption & Bribery , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Counterfeiting Currency , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Counterfeiting Products , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Cybercrime , ✓ , , , , - , Drug Trafficking , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Environmental Crime , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Extortion , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Forgery , ✓ , , ✓ , ✓ , - , Fraud , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Human Trafficking / Migrant Smuggling , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Insider Trading & Market Manipulation , ✓ , , ✓ , ✓ , - , Kidnapping, Illegal Restraint, and Hostage-taking , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Organized Crime / Racketeering , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Piracy , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Robbery or Theft , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Sexual Exploitation , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Smuggling , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Tax Crimes , ✓ , , ✓ , , - , Terrorism / Terrorist Financing , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Trafficking in Stolen Goods , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , - , Violent Crime (Murder & Grievous Bodily Injury) , ✓ , ✓ , ✓ , ✓

Etymology

"Predicate" as an adjective originally means "something said of a subject", originally from Latin ''praedicare'' 'to proclaim or make known'. In

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

, it came to mean to assert something. In U.S. legal usage, it is a "basis or foundation on which something rests".''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'', Third Edition, March 2007
''s.v.''
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References

Crime