Episode 2: Deconstructing Crypto: Emerging RICO applications to digital assets

The Allen & Overy Podcast

In September 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a series of reports regarding the development of digital asset markets.

In one of the reports, titled Implications for Consumers, Investors and Businesses, the Treasury Department, highlighted a series of “conduct risks” associated with crypto assets.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury observed: “Crypto-assets and markets that operate out of compliance with applicable laws and regulations, or are unregulated, can breed fraud, abusive market practices, and disclosure gaps. Certain practices in the crypto-asset ecosystem have resulted in financial harm to consumers, investors, and businesses; unfair and inequitable outcomes; and damage to the integrity of the market.”

As mentioned in our first installment of Deconstructing Crypto, standalone violations of the federal wire fraud, bank fraud and securities fraud statutes could be packaged together as a potential charge under the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) statute. In this second episode, New York Litigation Partners Todd Fishman and Eugene Ingoglia take us through an explanation of:

1. What is RICO?
2. The elements of a RICO Charge
3. Criminal applications to digital assets
4. Civil applications to digital assets