Opinion ID: 534779
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pose a Threat of Continued Criminal Activity

Text: 35 Predicate acts pose a threat of continued criminal activity when they constitute past conduct that by its nature projects into the future with a threat of repetition. H.J., 109 S.Ct. at 2902. After qualifying this standard as one that depends on the specific facts of each case, the Court in H.J. offered various ways of demonstrating such a threat, including that of showing that the predicate acts are a regular way of conducting a defendant's ongoing legitimate business. Id. The Court held that the plaintiffs in H.J. could establish continuity at trial by showing, among other things, that the alleged bribes were a regular way of conducting Northwestern Bell's ongoing business. 36 Fleet contends that its complaint established a threat of continued criminal activity here. We need not reach this argument as we have already determined that the alleged predicate acts amount to continued criminal activity. Fleet has therefore stated a valid claim for relief regardless of whether a threat was posed. See supra. Fleet again misapprehends the RICO statute, however. It argues that a threat of continued criminal activity existed because for seven years the Sions ran the day-to-day business of Federal Chain and Baroness through continuing acts of fraud.... Reply Brief for Plaintiff/Appellant at 10. A threat of continued criminal activity for purposes of RICO is not established merely by demonstrating that the Sions' acts of common law fraud were a regular way of conducting their ongoing businesses. Rather, Fleet must demonstrate that the predicate acts--here the acts of mail fraud--were a regular way of conducting the ongoing businesses.