01-3018 U.S. v. McLeczynsky

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“When read in its entirety and including the incorporated allegations from Count I, Count II describes in great detail McLeczynsky’s role as an intermediary between bribe payors and payees who, for personal profit, participated in a scheme by which corrupt Secretary of State employees obtained cash payments in exchange for their assistance in issuing fraudulent CDL permits to unqualified applicants. While McLeczynsky’s role as an intermediary may properly be characterized as that of a ‘double agent,’ it is the nature of his relationship with the Secretary of State employees, not those private individuals who paid cash for a fraudulent CDL permit, that matters for purposes of determining his potential and ultimate liability under the Hobbs Act. See McClain, 934 F.2d at 827 (intermediary between private individuals and public officers in illegal extortion scheme may be liable as co-conspirator); see also United States v. Wright, 797 F.2d 245, 252-53 (5th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1013 (1987) (participant in communicating, negotiating and collecting extortion demand properly charged with aiding and abetting under Hobbs Act). As Count II alleges that McLeczynsky acted in coordination with public officers employed by the Illinois Secretary of State in extorting money from unqualified CDL applicants, its terms sufficiently set forth a Hobbs Act violation.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Gottschall, J., Bauer, J.