UNITED STATES of AMERICA, ) Civil Action ) No
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ____________________________________ ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) Civil Action ) No. 99-CV-02496 (GK) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Next scheduled court appearance: ) PHILIP MORRIS USA INC., ) July 15, 2004 f/k/a PHILIP MORRIS INC., et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ____________________________________) UNITED STATES’ FINAL PROPOSED CONCLUSIONS OF LAW (Vol. One) TABLE OF CONTENTS I THE UNITED STATES HAS ESTABLISHED THE SUBSTANTIVE RICO OFFENSE ALLEGED IN COUNT THREE .................................1 A. Introduction .....................................................1 1. History of Proceedings .......................................1 2. Summary of Defendants’ Scheme to Defraud and Disgorgement ....3 3. Elements of the RICO Substantive Count .......................5 4. Corporate Liability For Acts of Officers, Employees, Agents .......6 5. Corporate Scienter May Be Established By The Collective Knowledge of The Corporation’s Employees and Representatives ...........12 B. Defendants Established An Association-In-Fact Enterprise .............21 1. Corporations and Other Individuals May Comprise an Association-In-Fact Enterprise ...............................21 2. The Governing Legal Principles Regarding An Association-In-Fact Enterprise ................................................25 3. Defendants Formed an Enterprise ............................27 a. Members of the Enterprise Had a Common Purpose.......29 b. The Enterprise Has Utilized Both Formal and Informal Organization ........................................31 c. The Enterprise Has Functioned as a Continuous Unit ......32 C. The Evidence Establishes That the Alleged RICO Enterprise Is Engaged in and Its Activities Affect Interstate and Foreign Commerce .............34 D. Each Defendant is Distinct From and Associated With The Enterprise ...39 1. Each Defendant is Distinct From the Enterprise ................39 2. Each Defendant is Associated With the RICO Enterprise .........42 E. Each Defendant Participated in the Conduct of the Enterprise’s Affairs . 45 F. Each Defendant Committed At Least Two Racketeering Acts ...........52 1. A Defendant’s Liability For A Racketeering Act May Be Based On “Aiding and Abetting” ......................................52 i G. Defendants Committed the Alleged Mail & Wire Fraud Offenses ........56 1. Elements of Mail and Wire Fraud Offenses ....................56 2. Mail and Wire Fraud Offenses Are Not Limited to Common Law Fraud and Hence Do Not Require Proof of Affirmative Misrepresentations of Fact. Rather, a Scheme to Defraud May Include Material Omissions, Half-Truths and Literally True Statements In Furtherance of a Scheme to Deceive ..............58 3. Defendants Knowingly and Intentionally Devised and Executed a Scheme To Defraud the Public of Money ......................60 a. Defendants Intended to Defraud the Public of Money ......60 b. Defendants’ Fraudulent Intent May Be Based Upon Reckless Disregard For the Truth and Wilful Blindness ............62 c. Defendants’ Fraudulent Representations are Material .....66 4. Defendants May Not Escape Liability for Their Scheme to Defraud by Claiming That the Public Was Not Deceived or Otherwise Injured by Their Misconduct and Could Not Have Reasonably Relied Upon Their Fraudulent Representations ............................67 5. Defendants Caused the Alleged Mailings and Wire Transmissions For the Purpose of Executing the Scheme to Defraud ................70 a. Governing Legal Principles ............................70 b. Mailing Alternatives From 1953 to Present ...............73 c. Defendants’ Routine Mailing Practices ..................74 1. Philip Morris .................................74 2. Lorillard .....................................75 3. Liggett .......................................75 4. R.J. Reynolds .................................75 5. The Tobacco Institute ..........................75 6. Council For Tobacco Research ...................76 d. Prior Stipulations and Admissions Establish the Mailings and Wire Transmissions Underlying 45 of the Alleged 145 Racketeering Acts ...................................76 e. The United States Established the Mailings and Wire Transmissions Underlying an Additional 30 of the 145 Alleged Racketeering Acts Which Involve Defendants’ Press Releases and Advertisements Disseminated to the Public Via the United States Mails and Wire Transmissions. ...................77 f. Defendants Caused Wire Transmissions Underlying An Additional 6 of the 145 Alleged Racketeering Acts .........78 ii g. The United States Established the Mailings and Wire Transmissions Involving Communications Underlying the Remaining 64 of the 145 Alleged Racketeering Acts .......79 6. The Mailings and Wire Transmissions Were in Furtherance of the Scheme to Defraud .........................................81 7. The Cigarette Company Defendants Are Liable for the Mailings and Wire Transmissions Underlying the Racketeering Acts Committed By Defendants CTR and TI ....................................81 8. Defendants Caused Literally Thousands of Mailings and Wire Transmissions Not Specifically Alleged as Racketeering Acts .....87 H. Defendants Engaged in A Pattern of Racketeering Activity .............90 1. The Racketeering Acts Are Related .....................90 2. The Requisite Continuity Has Been Established ..........91 II DEFENDANTS CONSPIRED TO VIOLATE RICO ........................95 A. Elements of a RICO Conspiracy Offense ............................95 B. Each Defendant is Liable for the RICO Conspiracy Charge Under Each of Two Alternative Methods of Establishing the Requisite Conspiratorial Agreement .........................................97 1. There Are Two Alternative Methods of Establishing a Conspiratorial Agreement to Violate RICO .................................97 2. Each Defendant is Liable for the RICO Conspiracy Charge Under Both Alternative Methods of Proof Although Either Method Alone is Sufficient ................................................101 3. The Prohibition Against Intracorporate Conspiracies Under The Antitrust Laws Does Not Apply To This Case .................105 C. A Defendant May Be Liable for a RICO Conspiracy Offense Even if the Defendant Did Not Participate In the Operation or Management of the Enterprise .....................................................106 III THE UNITED STATES HAS ESTABLISHED THAT THERE IS A REASONABLE LIKELIHOOD THAT DEFENDANTS WILL VIOLATE THE LAW IN THE FUTURE ....................................................111 A. Defendants’ Past Intentional Unlawful Conduct Over A 45-Year Period Sufficiently Establishes A Reasonable Likelihood of Future Violations. Mere Cessation of Unlawful Conduct and Defendants’ Alleged Compliance With iii the MSA Does Not Preclude the United States’ Claim For Injunctive and Other Equitable Relief ...........................................110 B. Defendants’ Ongoing Fraudulent Conduct Also Establishes A Reasonable Likelihood of Future Unlawful Activity.............................113 1. The United States Is Not Required To Prove That Defendants Committed The Elements of a RICO Violation After The MSA Was Adopted .................................................113 2. The United States Is Not Required to Prove That All Defendants Are Continuing to Commit RICO Violations or Are Reasonably Likely to Commit Unlawful Conduct in the Future .....................115 3. Subsequent to Their Entry into the MSA in November 1998, Defendants Have Continued to Engage in Conduct Consistent with Their Past Pattern of Behavior Undertaken in Furtherance of Their Fraudulent Scheme .......................................117 a. Defendants Have Violated The MSA ...................117 b. Health Effects of Smoking ............................119 c. Marketing to Young People ..........................121 d. Defendants’ Marketing of “Low Tar” and “Light” Cigarettes .........................................124 e. Addiction ..........................................126 f. Nicotine Manipulation ...............................126 g. Concealment/Suppression of Information ...............127 C. The United States Is Entitled To Disgorgement Independent Of Its Entitlement To A Permanent Injunction ............................128 IV THE UNITED STATES IS ENTITLED TO DISGORGEMENT OF AT LEAST 280 BILLION DOLLARS OF DEFENDANTS’ ILL-GOTTEN PROCEEDS TO WHICH THEY NEVER HAD A RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE ............130 A. Disgorgement Need Only Be A Reasonable Approximation Of Profits Causally Related To The Violation ................................130 B. Because of the Systematic and Pervasive Nature of Defendants’ Scheme to Defraud, and the Equitable Principles Governing Disgorgement, the United States Is Entitled to Disgorge All of Defendants’ Proceeds from 1954 to 2001 ...............................................131 C. The United States’ Calculation Of Disgorgement Fully Comports With The Governing Legal Principles .......................................135 iv 1. The United States’ Calculation of Disgorgement Based on the Youth Addicted Population is Reasonable ..........................135 2. The United States’ Use of the Civil Forfeiture Statute as a Guide in Calculating Disgorgement Is Reasonable .....................137 3. The United States’ Inclusion of the Time Value of Money For Defendants’ Gains from the Illegal Proceeds in its Disgorgement Calculation Serves the Purpose of Disgorgement ...............140 D. “Causality” Does Not Require a Showing of Reliance, Which