Congress sits to legislate, not settle, in favor of one side or the other, pending litigation. I ask unanimous consent to insert in the record at this point an outline that summarizes the Senate and Hause bills and compares them to present law. Without objection, it is agreed to. [The outline follows:] RICO Reform Comparative Analysis S. 1523, as reported by Senate Judiciary Committee, Introduction July 5, 1989 In 1970, Congress enacted RICO (18 U.S.c. § 1961 et seq.), which prohibited "enterprise criminality", that is, "patterns" of "racketeering", including: (1) violence, (2) the provision of illegal goods and services, (3) corruption in government, or unions, and (4) commercial fraud, by, through, or against various kinds of "entities." Licit entities include corporations, partnerships, unions and governmental entities. Illicit entities include organized crime and violent crime groups. In addition to criminal sanctions, the statute authorizes governmental civil suits and a treble damage claim for relief with counsel fees for injury to property for victims of RICO violations. Reform Proposals Various proposals to reform RICO have been made. Some reflect an effort to strengthen the statute. See H.R. 4920 (Coyners Edwards); H.R. 3240 (Conyers Edwards). Other reflect an effort to circumscribe it, particularly in the area of private civil litigation. See S. 1523 (Metzenbaum); M.R. 2983 (Boucher); H.R. 4923 (Boucher). s.1523, sponsored by Senator Howard Metzenbaum, was reported, as amended, by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the full Senate on May 24, 1988. When it was introduced, it was similar to M.R. 2983. H.R. 4923, sponsored by Congressman Boucher, was introduced on June 28, 1988. It is identical to S. 1523, as reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee. M.R. 4920 was introduced by Congressman John Conyers on June 28, 1988. It is similar in structure to S. 1523, as reported, but it also reflects many of the provisions of H.R. 3240. automatic 3x; brought by chief legal officer actual damages with counsel fees optional 2x punitive with counsel fees: 1. unit of local govern. ment 2. natural person (consumer) 3. insider trading if a. natural person c. investment trustee fund, or e. investment companies limited by clear and convincing evidence and other standards (Note: may not extend to acquiring company trading under present law; no secondary liability provided;) optional 2x punitive automatic 3x; brought by not clear Federal, chief legal officer actual damages with counsel fees optional 2x punitive with counsel fees: 1. unit of local govern. ment 2. natural person (consumer) 3. small investor 4. defense contractor 5. exempt organization (non profit for tax purposes) 6. investment trustee 7. welfare pension fund 8. Investment company 9. small business limited by clear and convincing evidence and other standards (Note: extends to all forms of insider trading, that is, both target company and acquiring company misuse of inside information; secondary Liability provided.) automatic 3x with but otherwise automatic 3x automatic 3x with counsel fees no exceptions not authorized Mr. CONYERS. I will also insert in the record at this point a chart of the filing of civil RICO cases from November 1985 through June of this year. Since accurate information has been kept, filings have averaged 85 per month out of 23,000 filings. Less than .004 percent, four one-thousandths of 1 percent. The high point came in December 1986 with 109 RICO filings. The low point came in November 1985 with 42 filings. In addition, approximately 60 percent of the filings have had an independent basis for Federal jurisdiction. Accordingly, civil RICO filings are neither wholly few, nor have floodgate proportions. Nevertheless, they represent a significant form of Federal litigation and we ought to see that it is conducted with due regard for the interests of all the parties. I also ask unanimous consent to insert into the record several studies of the fraud conducted by the Library of Congress. Without objection, those insertions are permitted. [The information follows:] |