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Title 18, Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-102

§1962 Prohibited Activities

Title 18 › PART I — CRIMES › CHAPTER 96 — RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS › § 1962

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

It is illegal for anyone who got money from repeated criminal activity or from collecting an unlawful debt, and who was a main participant under section 2 of Title 18, to use that money to buy, start, or run a business that does business across state lines or affects foreign trade. Buying stocks on the open market just to invest is allowed if, after the purchase, the buyer, their immediate family, and their accomplices together hold less than one percent of any one class of the issuer’s stock and do not have the power to pick any director. It is also illegal to get or keep any ownership or control of such a business by using repeated criminal activity or collecting an unlawful debt. People who work for or are connected to such a business must not run its affairs by those means. It is illegal to plan with others to break any of these rules.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §1962

Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt in which such person has participated as a principal within the meaning of section 2, title 18, United States Code, to use or invest, directly or indirectly, any part of such income, or the proceeds of such income, in acquisition of any interest in, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. A purchase of securities on the open market for purposes of investment, and without the intention of controlling or participating in the control of the issuer, or of assisting another to do so, shall not be unlawful under this subsection if the securities of the issuer held by the purchaser, the members of his immediate family, and his or their accomplices in any pattern or racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt after such purchase do not amount in the aggregate to one percent of the outstanding securities of any one class, and do not confer, either in law or in fact, the power to elect one or more directors of the issuer.
(b)It shall be unlawful for any person through a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, any interest in or control of any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce.
(c)It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.
(d)It shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1988—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 100–690 substituted “subsection” for “subsections”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 1962

Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102