Introduction

Matrix organization

Mergers by absorption

Risks related to the expansion of the scope of criminal liability of legal entities

Validity conditions

Proof of delegation

Exemption from individual liability of delegator

Attribution of offense to legal entity

Delegations of authority

Criminal risk management within business organizations

Complicity in crimes against humanity

Breaches of secrecy

Personal data breaches

Theft

Extortion

Blackmail

Fraud

Misappropriation

Receiving/concealment of unlawfully obtained property (recel)

Attacks on automated data processing systems

Money laundering

Misappropriation by public official (concussion)

Corruption and influence peddling

Unlawful acquisition of an interest

Favoritism

Forgery and use of forgeries

Violation of Criminal Code

Offenses under the Monetary and Financial Code

Offenses under the Commercial Code

Environmental Code violations

Offenses arising from other codes

Types of offenses

Offenses under the Criminal Code, the Commercial Code, or the Environmental Code, Criminal procedure

White Collar Crime (en cours)

Article 312-1 of the Criminal Code punishes the offense of extortion with seven years of imprisonment and a EUR 100,000 fine, which is increased to 10 years' imprisonment and EUR 150,000 when accompanied by aggravating circumstances as listed in Article 312-2 of the code .

The commission of the acts set out in Articles 312-3 to 312-7, which are of particular gravity, changes the nature of extortion, which from an offense becomes a crime punishable by life imprisonment when the extortion is preceded, accompanied, or followed by either violence resulting in death, torture or acts of barbarity .

Natural persons guilty of one of the offenses provided for in the chapter on extortion also incur the additional penalties of Article 312-13 of the Criminal Code, such as the prohibition from either holding a public office or engaging in the professional or social activity during or on the occasion of which the offense was committed. This prohibition may be permanent or temporary in the cases provided for in Articles 312-3 to 312-7 and for a duration of up to five years in the cases provided for in Articles 312-1, 312-2, and 312-10, or from engaging in a commercial or industrial profession, directing, administering, managing, or controlling in any capacity, directly or indirectly, for their own account or for the account of others, a commercial or industrial undertaking or a commercial company. Those prohibitions may be imposed cumulatively. However, the court may, by a specially reasoned decision when the conviction is pronounced by a criminal court, decide not to impose this penalty, considering the circumstances of the offense and the personality of its perpetrator.

Under the terms of Article 312-15, legal entities held criminally liable, under the conditions provided for in Article 121-2, for the offenses defined in this chapter, incur, in addition to the fine according to the modalities provided for in Article 131-38 (in accordance with this article, the fine incurred by natural persons is quintupled and additional penalties may be imposed), the penalties provided for in Article 131-39. The prohibition set out in 2° of Article 131-39 concerns the activity in the exercise or on the occasion of the exercise of which the offense was committed.

Pursuant to Article 312-9 of the Criminal Code, attempting to commit those offenses is punishable by the same penalties.

Following successful criminal mediation for acts of violence and extortion, it is possible to draft, in accordance with Article 41-1, 5°, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a report that contains the commitments of the perpetrator of the incriminated acts, made towards the victim, in exchange for the latter's withdrawal of the complaint and, if applicable, full compensation, provided that it is classified as a settlement .

Notably when extortion is committed to the detriment of a person whose particular vulnerability, due to age, illness, infirmity, physical or mental deficiency, or pregnancy, is apparent or known to the perpetrator.

Cass. crim., 9 December 1993, LawLex202200001592JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 10 April 2013, LawLex202200003029JBJ.

63. Sanctions for extortion