In United States v. Lemus, --- F.4th ---, No. 22-50046 (9th Cir. 2024), the Court affirmed convictions for conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 371; aiding and abetting the receipt of the proceeds of extortion under 18 U.S.C. §§ 880, 2(a); and receiving the proceeds of extortion under § 880.
The Court's introduction provides a good summary:
Federal law criminalizes receiving the proceeds of extortion. See 18 U.S.C. § 880. But must a person know that the money or property at issue was in fact payment from extortion? Or is it sufficient for a person to know that the money was somehow “unlawfully obtained”? Id. In this case, Edgar Hernandez Lemus and Junior Almendarez Martinez (collectively, “Defendants”) ask us to resolve these questions. Based on its plain language, we conclude that § 880 requires only that the government prove knowledge that the proceeds were “unlawfully obtained.” And so we affirm Defendants’ convictions, rejecting their § 880 mens rea arguments.*****As stated above, § 880’s knowledge requirement is satisfied if the defendant knew the proceeds at issue were “unlawfully obtained”—meaning obtained in any manner contrary to or prohibited by law.
