Page:Yegiazaryan v. Smagin.pdf/8

4 At issue here is a civil RICO suit that Smagin brought in 2020 based on the allegations just described. RICO provides a private right of action to “[a]ny person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation of” RICO’s substantive provisions. 18 U. S. C. §1964(c). Invoking that cause of action, Smagin sued Yegiazaryan and CMB Bank (the two petitioners here), as well as 10 other defendants, in the Central District of California. The complaint asserts two claims against each: a substantive RICO violation, §1962(c), and a RICO conspiracy claim, §1962(d). The thrust of Smagin’s allegations is that the defendants worked together under Yegiazaryan’s direction to frustrate Smagin’s collection on the California judgment through a pattern of wire fraud and other RICO predicate racketeering acts, including witness tampering and obstruction of justice. For these violations, Smagin seeks not only actual damages “no less than $130 million,” App. 100a, but also attorney’s fees and treble damages as authorized under RICO. See §1964(c).

The District Court dismissed the complaint on the ground that Smagin had “fail[ed] to adequately plead a domestic injury,” id., at 31a, as required by this Court’s decision in RJR Nabisco. See 579 U. S., at 346 (“A private RICO plaintiff therefore must allege and prove a domestic injury to its business or property”). The District Court “place[d] great weight on the fact that Smagin is a resident and citizen of