An attorney’s ability to offer “sound legal advice” is a property right that can support a charge of extortion under the Hobbs Act if it is taken away from him, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled.
Upholding the conviction of businessman Giridhar Sekhar for threatening to spread rumors about Luke Bierman, then-general counsel for the New York State Comptroller’s Office, the circuit said Sekhar’s attempt to force Bierman to recant a negative recommendation about his company was an “attempt to obtain property” within the meaning of the law.
