United States v. Covino
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
837 F.2d 65 (1988)
Alfred Covino (defendant), a NYNEX director who controlled which contractors were hired and paid for cell-site construction, learned that an employee of Great Northeastern Building and Management Corporation (GNBM) -- a small contractor that depended on NYNEX for about 90% of its business -- had improperly billed $3,200 to a NYNEX credit card. Covino showed the bills to GNBM's co-owner, Brennan, hinted it would be bad if his own superiors learned about them, and then leveraged that hint to get Brennan to build him a sun deck and later an entire sunroom worth over $20,000, plus additional home improvements and cash payments totaling $85,000. Brennan testified he feared Covino would use his position to destroy GNBM's business relationship with NYNEX if he didn't comply. The government charged Covino under the Hobbs Act for extortion by wrongful use of fear of economic loss, but after conviction, the district court granted Covino's motion for acquittal, finding insufficient evidence of wrongful fear; the government cross-appealed.
Whether a Hobbs Act extortion conviction based on a victim's fear of economic loss requires proof of a direct threat of future harm, or whether it is enough that the victim reasonably believed the defendant had the power and willingness to cause that harm.