''Sekhar v. United States'', 570 U.S. 729 (2013), is a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

decision regarding extortion under the

Hobbs Act The Hobbs Act, named after United States Representative Sam Hobbs ( D- AL) and codified at , is a United States federal law enacted in 1946 that provides: Section 1951 also proscribes conspiracy to commit robbery or extortion without referen ...

of 1946.

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Giridhar C. Sekhar was a partner at a

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

firm based in Brookline, Mass. In 2009, Sekhar sent multiple emails to Luke Bierman, who was at the time

legal counsel A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor, ...

New York State Comptroller The New York State Comptroller is an elected constitutional officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the New York state government's Department of Audit and Control. The New York State Comptroller is the highest-paid state auditor or ...

Thomas DiNapoli Thomas Peter DiNapoli II (born February 10, 1954) is an American politician serving as the 54th and current New York State Comptroller since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously the New York State Assemblyman for the 16th dis ...

. According to the emails obtained from Sekhar's home computer by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

, Sekhar demanded that Bierman advise the comptroller to commit to a $35 million retirement fund investment at Sekhar's firm, threatening to reveal details of Bierman's alleged extra-marital affair to his wife, DiNapoli, and the media. After initially being charged with coercion under state law, Sekhar was tried and convicted for attempted extortion under the federal Hobbs act. Sekhar's lawyers contended that the advice of a lawyer employed by the state was not a form of property that could be sought by threats, and hence that the extortion charge was not applicable in this case. The argument was refuted by a federal district court judge and by the

Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate jur ...

court on appeal. Sekhar's lawyers then approached the United States Supreme Court in September 2012. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority. The Court held that legal advice could not be considered to be "transferable property" and therefore did not fit the definition of extortion under the Hobbs Act.

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* {{caselaw source , case = ''Sekhar v. United States'', {{Ussc, 570, 729, 2013, el=no , courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/944097/sekhar-v-united-states/ , googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2625450268749934278 , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/570/12-357/ , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/2012/12-357 , other_source1 = Supreme Court (slip opinion) (archived) , other_url1 =https://web.archive.org/web/0/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-357_bq7c.pdf United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court 2013 in United States case law Hobbs Act case law

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