In U.S. v. Taylor, No. 05-14652 (March 6, 2007), the Court held that a Hobbs Act conspiracy by means of robbery can be established even though the object of the planned robbery, cocaine, did not exist, because the robbery was a sting set up by government agents and confidential informants.
The Court held that the fact that the intended victims and narcotics were fictional was irrelevant to whether the Hobbs Act was violated. The interstate nexus was sufficient to establish a violation.
