Mr. Betts pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with interstate commerce by means of extortion under color of official right.
The warrant is meant as a mark of recognition and gives the holder the official right to bear the royal arms in connection to their business.
The charges in the complaint included bribery, extortion under color of official right, and wire fraud and honest services fraud conspiracies.
The defendants, who were targets of an F.B.I. sting operation, are charged with "conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right" and could face 20 years in prison if convicted.
Mr. Cammarano appeared before Judge Jose L. Linares in a blue striped suit and pleaded guilty to one count of "conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right," then left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
The clerk, Louis March, 38, was charged in a criminal complaint by the F.B.I. with extortion under the color of official right, said Christopher J. Christie, the United States attorney.
At forty, he had returned to the Justice Department as a top official in the Criminal Division in the Clinton Administration and then, as the official right below the Deputy Attorney General, became a key member of the team that ran the department under Attorney General Janet Reno.
Is the public official right to accuse the government of a "gross" breach of privacy, or did the government overreact by sacking him?
The amicable breakup became official right in mid-January".
The phrase "under color of official right" which appears in the Act's definition of extortion renders that distinction moot.
The Hobbs Act also criminalizes the obtaining of property under color of official right, if interstate commerce is affected.
