Dismissing three lawsuits brought by countries that charged that major tobacco companies were undermining tax collections by encouraging cigarette smuggling, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis said on Tuesday that Congress did not intend to abrogate the common law “revenue rule” when it added money laundering to the federal racketeering statute with the passage of the so-called USA Patriot Act in October.
The ruling came in the lead case of The European Community v. RJR Nabisco, 01-CV-05188, and two other actions consolidated before Garaufis in Brooklyn.
