Civil RICO

http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/civrico.pdf

18 U.S.C. § 1964

Civil RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1964, is Patterned After Antitrust Laws, and Hence Vests

the Attorney General of the United States with the Exclusive Authority to Obtain

Equitable Relief, and Vests Private Litigants, But Not the United States, With the

Authority to Sue For Treble Damages

RICO’s civil remedies provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1964, authorizes two causes of action: a

public enforcement action for equitable relief by the Attorney General and a treble damages

action by private parties. The Attorney General’s right to sue for equitable relief derives from

Sections 1964(a) and (b), and those provisions, in combination, make the Attorney General’s right exclusive.

Collateral Estoppel

Civil RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1964 (d), explicitly authorizes the Government to invoke

collateral estoppel to prove its civil RICO charges, and provides as follows:

A final judgment or decree rendered in favor of the United States

in any criminal proceeding brought by the United States under this

chapter shall estop the defendant from denying the essential

allegations of the criminal offense in any subsequent civil

proceeding brought by the United States.

Avoiding the pitfalls of civil RICO

http://www.mcguirewoods.com/news-resources/publications/PLIT0705-Menthe.pdf