The first predicate act was creating a retention bonus to defraud the government and hide the payments, the second and beyond were updating Envision plans for accounts governed by the Advisors Act without including the fees charged.

The first predicate act was signing false certifications, the second was misleading shareholders, Wachovia's board and a North Carolina business court during the merger, and the third was Robert Steel become president of Perrella Wienberg.

Ripley Rand

Meet the U.S. Attorney

United States Attorney Ripley Rand

Ripley Rand is the United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.  After completing state and federal judicial clerkships, Rand served as an Assistant District Attorney in Wake County, North Carolina, where he was a full-time domestic violence prosecutor as well as a member of the office’s Dangerous Offenders Task Force.  Prior to taking office as the United States Attorney, Rand served more than eight years as a North Carolina Superior Court Judge, dealing with civil and criminal cases in over half the state’s counties.  Rand is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and an honors graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law.

http://www.justice.gov/usao-mdnc/meet-us-attorney

An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath: “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” This section does not affect other oaths required by law.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/3331

http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1074&context=lcp

http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/oip/legacy/2014/07/23/ag-holder-appt-affidavit.pdf

Mandamus

A (writ of) mandamus is an order from a court to an inferior government official ordering the government official to properly fulfill their official duties or correct an abuse of discretion. (See, e.g. Cheney v. United States Dist. Court For D.C. (03-475) 542 U.S. 367 (2004) 334 F.3d 1096.)

Rules on mandamus and similar orders vary by jurisdiction. In the federal courts, these orders most frequently appear when a party to a suit wants to appeal a judge's decision but is blocked by rules against interlocutory appeals. Instead of appealing directly, the party simply sues the judge, seeking a mandamus compelling the judge to correct his earlier mistake. Generally, this type of indirect appeal is only available if the party has no alternative means of seeking review.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/mandamus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandamus

Vineet Narain v. Union of India, AIR 1996 SC 3386