Blackmailing Under Florida Law

The act of forcing someone to part with money, property or otherwise act against their interests because of the threat of exposure is known as extortion street name blackmailing. Black mailing is prohibited and penalized to ensure that people do not feel forced to give into the demands of the blackmailer. Fort Lauderdale extortion attorney explains that the crime of blackmail is not heavily prosecuted in Broward County because they don’t see many of these cases in South Florida.

Florida law defines extortion as a threat used to compel someone to act against their will. This means that the threat must be sufficiently strong to overcome the freewill of another. Also, extortion and robbery are different because a robbery includes a physical threat at a specific time whereas extortion involves a threat that can be brought about at any time. The blackmailing attempt can cover monetary demands as well as demands to force the victim to act in a manner that they would otherwise not act in. Any threat made to change the actions of the victim can be considered extortion unless it occurred during a robbery.