United States v. Villalobos
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
748 F.3d 953 (2014)
Alfred Villalobos (defendant), a lawyer, learned the federal government was investigating a fraudulent work-visa scheme run by a rabbi and was about to interview one of the scheme's participants, Orit Anjel, whose husband had hired Villalobos to recover money Orit had paid into the scheme. Villalobos approached the rabbi and his lawyer, demanding payment in exchange for Orit's favorable cooperation with the government's interview. He was charged with attempted extortion under the Hobbs Act, and the district court instructed the jury that any threat made to induce fear was automatically wrongful. Villalobos was convicted and appealed, challenging that instruction and the trial court's refusal to let him argue he had a claim of right to the money.
Whether a claim-of-right defense is available in an extortion case if a defendant's threat to obtain property from another is wrongful under the circumstances of the case.