[1][2] Giridhar C. Sekhar was a partner at a venture capital firm based in Brookline, Mass.

In 2009, Sekhar sent multiple emails to Luke Bierman, who was at the time legal counsel to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

[3] After initially being charged with coercion under state law, Sekhar was tried and convicted for attempted extortion under the federal Hobbs act.

[4][5] Sekhar's lawyers then approached the United States Supreme Court in September 2012.

The Court held that legal advice could not be considered to be "transferable property" and therefore did not fit the definition of extortion under the Hobbs Act.