From Tomlinson v. State, decided today by the Florida Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice John Couriel:
Kevin Tomlinson threatened to ruin the reputation of two fellow real estate brokers unless they paid him. Must the State prove that Tomlinson made this threat with hatred for the complainants in seeking a conviction under Florida's extortion law? …
In April 2015, Kevin Tomlinson filed a complaint with the Miami Association of Realtors (MAR) alleging that two brokers, Jill Hertzberg and Jill Eber, known in the market as "the Jills," were preventing other brokers from courting their clients by manipulating data in a listing service that MAR operated. In their response to the complaint, the Jills took responsibility for altering the data. Nonetheless, the grievance process continued.
Tomlinson demanded that the Jills pay $400,000, or else he was "going to ruin" them "by, among other things, 'call[ing] the Wall Street Journal' and convincing the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation to take away the Jills' real estate licenses." "He told [Hertzberg] that her reputation was at risk, and that he did not want her 'beautiful career to be marred.' He also mentioned that other brokers were interested in filing similar complaints, but that he had no desire to 'corral all these people who want to bring down the Jills.'" They agreed to the $400,000 (apparently as part of a police-supported arrangement to gather evidence against him), but he upped the demand to $800,000.
