Court Rejects RICO and Fraud Claims Against Reputation Management Company
From Murrey v. Minc, decided Friday by Judge Analisa Torres (S.D.N.Y.):
Plaintiff pro se, Stewart Murrey, brings claims against Defendants Aaron Minc, Minc Law, Domingo J. Rivera, Rivera Law Group, PLC, PRVT L.L.C., Elizabeth Jordan, Internet Reputation Control, Anthony Will, Digital Revolution LLC, Brandyourself.com, Inc., Tom Vitolo, Christian Tyron, and John Does 1–10 for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”); California’s unfair competition law (the “UCL”); and California’s statutory and common law right of publicity; and claims for common law fraud and civil conspiracy….
{The following facts are taken from the [Complaint], which the Court accepts as true for purposes of this motion.}
Beginning in late 2016, a series of allegedly defamatory comments about Plaintiff were posted on the website www.cheaterreport.com …, along with photographs taken from Plaintiff’s personal website, dating profiles, and social media platforms. These posts “consumed” all other search engine results for Plaintiff’s name, which “severely harm[ed] his reputation and end[ed] his ability to earn money.” The comments on the Website ultimately led to Plaintiff’s being arrested twice, once in 2017 and once in 2018, and Plaintiff’s filing of two false arrest lawsuits, which were subsequently settled.
From 2017 to 2019, Defendants and others “solicited and received” thousands of dollars from Plaintiff to “remove online libel and rehabilitate [his] online reputation.” Plaintiff alleges that although Defendants and others represented to him that they had no connection to the Website, they were actually in cahoots with the Website, “work[ing] illegally with other individuals and business entities operating and maintaining [the Website]” and giving “kickbacks to the Website’s operators….
No dice on the RICO claim, the court held:
RICO defines [potentially actionable] “racketeering activity” as the commission of certain criminal acts under state and federal law, including wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 and extortion under 18 U.S.C. § 1951. Here, Plaintiff’s RICO allegations are based on defamation, wire fraud, and extortion.
Because “it is firmly established that
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