N. Blackmail and Extortion

• Library: The Criminal Law of South Carolina (SCBar) (2014 Ed.)

N. Blackmail and Extortion

Blackmail is proscribed by the following statute:

Any person who verbally or by printing or writing or by electronic communications:

(1) accuses another of a crime or offense;
(2) exposes or publishes any of another's personal or business acts, infirmities, or failings; or
(3) compels any person to do any act, or to refrain from doing any lawful act, against his will;

with intent to extort money or any other thing of value from any person, or attempts or threatens to do any of such acts, with the intent to extort money or any other thing of value, shall be guilty of blackmail and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both, in the discretion of the court.

S.C. Code Ann. § 16-17-640 (2003).

This statutory offense has not been interpreted in reported South Carolina cases; it was referred to but not discussed in State v. Cutter, 261 S.C. 140, 199 S.E.2d 61 (1973), cert....