The U.S. Supreme Court held that a foreign plaintiff can sue a domestic U.S. judgment-debtor under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO") for the debtor's fraudulent domestic efforts to avoid collection on a U.S. judgment confirming a foreign arbitral award.
On June 22, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-to-3 decision in Yegiazaryan v. Smagin authored by Justice Sotomayor, held that foreign plaintiffs can bring a civil RICO action when "the circumstances surrounding the alleged injury" arose in the United States. This decision clarified the scope of the "domestic-injury" requirement adopted by RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community, 579 U.S. 325 (2016), which held that "[a] private RICO plaintiff ... must allege and prove a domestic injury to its business or property" to overcome the presumption against extraterritoriality. In Smagin, the Court rejected petitioners' bright-line rule that...
