## Facts

- The United States prosecuted Mongol Nation, an unincorporated association of “full-patch” members of the Mongols motorcycle club, alleging it operated as a RICO enterprise.
- Mongol Nation and its members used distinctive words and images on vests and other items to identify membership in the club.
- The club held USPTO-registered collective membership marks, including a combined mark featuring the word “MONGOLS,” a Genghis Khan-type rider image, and “M.C.”
- The government presented evidence that Mongol Nation had rules, hierarchy, and leadership, and that its culture and symbols reinforced criminal conduct, including awarding patches for committing crimes.
- A jury found Mongol Nation guilty of substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy and, in a forfeiture phase, found forfeitable (among other things) firearms, ammunition, body armor, the rights associated with the collective membership marks, and certain mark-bearing items.
- Post-trial, Mongol Nation moved for judgment of acquittal and a new trial; the government sought a preliminary order of forfeiture for the property identified in the special verdict.

## Issues

1. Whether an unincorporated association could be held criminally liable under RICO and whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) and (d).
2. Whether criminal forfeiture under 18 U.S.C. § 1963 could reach collective membership marks and related rights, and certain mark-bearing items, consistent with the First Amendment and the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.

## Decision

- The court denied Mongol Nation’s Rule 29 motion and motion for a new trial, upholding the RICO and RICO-conspiracy convictions.
- The court granted forfeiture of firearms, ammunition, and body armor found forfeitable by the jury.
- The court declined to enter a preliminary order forfeiting the collective membership marks and associated intangible rights, and denied forfeiture of certain mark-bearing items, concluding the requested forfeiture would violate the First Amendment and the Excessive Fines Clause.

## Legal Principles

- An unincorporated association may qualify as a RICO “person” and may be held criminally liable when evidence permits a finding that the organization conducted its affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity and agreed to do so.
- Collective membership marks function to identify membership in a group rather than the commercial source of goods; when used as core identifiers of association, they implicate expressive and associational interests.
- Criminal forfeiture that would effectively suppress or transfer control of an association’s identity symbols raises serious First Amendment concerns where it burdens the ability to express group identity and identify members.
- Forfeiture is subject to the Eighth Amendment; punitive forfeiture may be unconstitutional if grossly disproportionate to the offense, including where the forfeiture would strip an organization of high-value identity-defining property.

## Conclusion

The court sustained Mongol Nation’s RICO convictions based on evidence of an organized association that directed and reinforced racketeering by its members, but it limited the forfeiture remedy by allowing forfeiture of weapons-related items while refusing to forfeit collective membership marks and certain related property on First Amendment and Excessive Fines grounds.


United States v. Mongol Nation, 370 F. Supp. 3d 1090 (C.D. Cal. 2019)