en made against traditional white collar defendants such as securities firms, accounting firms, penny stock brokers, commodities traders, banks, and insurance companies."
It is the purpose of this report to examine the use of RICO statues in the securities industry. The purpose of RICO and its traditional use against organized crime will be discussed. An analysis of the ways in which organized crime has influenced white collar crime will be offered. Next, the report will trace the historical development of the use of RICO in the securities industry and move on to current prosecutions in which RICO either does or could play a role. The argument to be advanced herein is that in cases such as that of Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, RICO statutes should apply if it can be demonstrated that corporate officers have conspired to defraud the public or some segment thereof and have behaved in a manner similar to that of organized crime and its participants.
RICO was designed in 1970 to buttress the power of federal prosecutors to control organized crime. In its Statement of Findings and Purposes for the statute, Congress stated that: "it is the purpose of this Act to seek the eradication of organized crime in the United States by strengthening the legal tools in the evidence-gathering process, by establishing new penal prohibitions, and by providing enhanced sanctions and new remedies to deal with the unlawful activities of those engaged in organized crime."
RICO makes it unlawful for any person, through a pattern of racketeering activity, to acquire or maintain any interest in any enterprise which is engaged in interstate or foreign commerce. The statute prohibits use of income derived from a pattern of racketeering to acquire or operate an enterprise affecting interstate commerce or to conduct an enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, collection of unlawful debt, or conspiring to do any...