United States v. Cummings
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
395 F.3d 392 (2005)

- Written by Sara Rhee, JD
Facts
David Morris (defendant) operated a skip-tracing business that provided collection agencies with identifying information, such as debtors’ names and Social Security numbers. Morris arranged to pay four employees of the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), an agency responsible for administering the state’s unemployment-insurance program, to provide him certain identifying information from IDES’s confidential database. Brenda Cummings (defendant) and the three other employees held relatively low-level positions at IDES. Upon receiving lists of debtor names from Morris, the employees searched the IDES database for relevant information and passed the information to Morris. Morris and Cummings were convicted for conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d). Morris and Cummings appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kanne, J.)
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