I thought the answer was obvious - then realized blackmail is seemingly a more vague term than I'd previous thought. My previous understanding was that blackmai

I thought the answer was obvious - then realized blackmail is seemingly a more vague term than I'd previous thought. My previous understanding was that blackmail was ~"a threat to reveal illegal activity unless you were compensated" The reason this is pretty obviously illegal is that it's what builds up pyramids of corruption. Alice skims some cash, Bob demands cash or he'll turn in Alice. Alice skims more cash to pay Bob. Charles discovers Bob is blackmailing Alice and demands money from Alice and Bob etc etc. Pay-offs/golden-handcuffs CEOs on one side and short-selling and all manner of other mechanisms that have sprung up, are to skirt the rules of directly demanding money in return for silence.