Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews
Isn't this a protection-money racket (extortion) from a legal perspective?<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion</a><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket</a><p>> "Extortion is a criminal offense of unlawfully obtaining money, property, or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion."<p>> "In the United States, extortion may also be committed as a federal crime across a computer system, phone, by mail or in using any instrument of interstate commerce."<p><a href="http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/legal/what-difference-between-extortion-and-blackmail?page=all" rel="nofollow">http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/legal/what-...</a><p>> "What is Extortion? The use of threats to extract money from people is a crime in the United States..."<p>> "Which Kinds of Threats are Illegal? One common characteristic of extortion is the use of threats, that is, an express intention to inflict injury, loss, or some other bad consequence on another person. The threat has to be sufficiently plausible and imminent that it could convince a reasonable person to give in to the blackmailer’s demands. In addition, there has to be some evidence that the threat was actually made for the purpose of obtaining money or property."<p><a href="http://www.orbankruptcy.com/newsletters/criminal-law/federal-laws-regarding-extortion/" rel="nofollow">http://www.orbankruptcy.com/newsletters/criminal-law/federal...</a><p>> "A person commits the federal offense of extortion if he or she transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any demand or request for ransom or for a reward for the release of a kidnapped person, any threat to kidnap or injure another person, or any threat to injure the property or reputation of another person or to accuse another person of a crime with the intent to extort."<p>Now that one specifically mentions that threats to injure persons, property or <i>reputation</i> qualify as extortion when done to get money from someone.<p>Here is the actual federal law:<p><a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875" rel="nofollow">http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875</a><p>> "Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to injure the property <i>or reputation</i> of the addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."<p>It seems very clear that that is what has happened here.<p>But if this form of threat by a Groupon employee to extract money from people is <i>not</i> extortion, what is the subtle difference that would enable such threats to be considered non-criminal?