PUBLIC CORRUPTION

• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Date: 01 July 2021

PUBLIC CORRUPTION

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1322

II. BRIBERY AND ILLEGAL GRATUITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1323

A. Elements of the Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1323

1. Thing of Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1324

2. Public Off‌icial or Witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325

3. Off‌icial Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1327

4. Intent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328

a. Bribery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328

b. Illegal Gratuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1329

B. Defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1330

1. Entrapment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1330

2. Due Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331

3. The Speech or Debate Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331

4. Other Defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1333

1. Bribery Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1334

a. Offenses Involving Public Off‌icials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1334

i. More than One Bribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335

ii. Value of Greater than Six Thousand Five

Hundred Dollars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335

iii. High-Level and Sensitive Positions . . . . . . . . 1337

iv. Immigration Off‌icial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1338

v. Facilitating Other Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1338

vi. Unknown Value or Incommensurate Effect . . 1338

b. Offenses Involving Witnesses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339

2. Illegal Gratuities Offenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339

a. Offenses Involving Public Off‌icials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339

b. Offenses Involving Witnesses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1340

III. CRIMINAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341

A. Unauthorized Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341

a. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1342

b. Particular Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343

c. Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1344

d. Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1344

e. Services Before a Governmental Forum . . . . . . . . . . 1344

2. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1345

B. Limitations on Activities of Government Off‌icers and Employees 1346

1. Covered Persons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347

1321

2. “Particular Matter” and “Agency” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347

3. Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1348

C. Limitations on “Revolving Door” Post-Employment Activities. 1349

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1350

a. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353

b. Representation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355

c. Knowledge and Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355

d. Acts Affecting Financial Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357

a. Off‌icer or Employee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357

b. Participated “Personally and Substantially” in a

“Particular Matter” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357

c. Knowledge of Financial Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1359

2. Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360

3. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1361

E. Illegal Outside Salaries for Federal Employees . . . . . . . . . . . 1361

F. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1363

IV. THE HONEST-SERVICES DOCTRINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1364

A. History of the Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1364

1. Shushan and the Early Honest-Services Cases . . . . . . . . . 1365

2. McNally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1365

3. Section 1346 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1366

B. The Current Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1366

1. Skilling and Black. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1366

2. Elements of the Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . 1367

a. Defraud of Honest Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1367

b. Bribes and Kickbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1368

I. INTRODUCTION

Congress has enacted several statutes to deter and punish acts of corruption

involving government off‌icials.

1

The growing interdependence between the gov-

ernment and the private economy has led to an increase in the number of potential

conf‌lict-of-interest situations and a greater need for regulation.

2

This article exam-

ines several of the enumerated crimes relating to public corruption. Section II

examines the federal bribery and illegal gratuity offenses. Section III explores

1. United States v. Miss. Valley Generating Co., 364 U.S. 520, 548 (1961); see, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 216 (2018)

(listing potential criminal penalties and civil remedies for acts of corruption).

2. For a brief history of federal conf‌lict-of-interest statutes and the original purpose of the modern conf‌lict

statute, see Van Ee v. EPA, 202 F.3d 296, 305–08 (D.C. Cir. 2000) (discussing historical context for the federal

bar on federal employee representational services). For an analysis of the 1962 legislation that consolidated and

modernized federal conf‌lict-of-interest statutes, see Memorandum from the Attorney General Regarding Conf‌lict

of Interest Provisions of Public Law 87–849, 28 Fed. Reg. 985 (Feb. 1, 1963) (comparing previous law to 1962

Act).

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criminal conf‌licts of interest, including the federal unauthorized compensation

offense and statutes that limit activities of government off‌icers and employees dur-

ing and after their terms of employment. Section III also analyzes the statutory pro-

visions governing government off‌icials’ participation in activities in which the

off‌icial has a f‌inancial interest, as well as improper acceptance of outside compen-

sation. Finally, Section IV discusses the honest-services doctrine.

II. BRIBERY AND ILLEGAL GRATUITY

In 1962, Congress enacted a package of conf‌lict-of-interest legislation that sig-

nif‌icantly revised the federal bribery statute.

3

These revisions formed part of “an

intricate web of regulations . . . governing the acceptance of gifts and other self-

enriching actions by public off‌icials,” including statutory prohibitions on bribery

and illegal gratuity.

4

This section outlines the four elements of the bribery and ille-

gal gratuity offenses and then explains potential defenses and penalties.

A. Elements of the Offenses

Section 201 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code prohibits bribery and illegal gratuity.

5

To prove bribery, the government generally must establish: (1) a thing of value

was given, offered, or promised to (or, in the case of a recipient, demanded, sought,

received, or accepted by); (2) a present or selected public off‌icial; (3) to inf‌luence

an “off‌icial act”; (4) with corrupt intent or intent to inf‌luence (or to be inf‌luenced).

6

Section 201(a) of the Act sets forth the relevant def‌initions of “public off‌icial” and

“off‌icial act.”

7

The elements of the illegal gratuity offense are set forth in § 201(c)(1).

8

To

prove illegal gratuity, the government must establish: (1) a thing of value was

given, offered, or promised to (or, in the case of a recipient, demanded, sought,

received, or accepted by); (2) a present, past, or selected public off‌icial; (3) “for or

3. 18 U.S.C. §§ 201–209 (2018). See generally William M. Welch II, Comment, The Federal Bribery Statute

and Special Interest Campaign Contributions, 79 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 1347 (1989) (explaining the

history of federal bribery legislation).

4. United States v. Sun-Diamond Growers of Cal., 526 U.S. 398, 409 (1999) (discussing federal statutes and

regulations outlawing various kinds of gratuities).

5. 18 U.S.C. § 201.

6. See id. § 201(b); see also United States v. Valle, 538 F.3d 341, 344–45 (5th Cir. 2008) (outlining elements

of § 201(b)). This Article will not address bribery offenses involving fraud or violations of lawful duty as these

offenses are rarely prosecuted. For examples of bribery cases involving fraud, see United States v. Leyva, 282

F.3d 623 (9th Cir. 2002) (addressing falsif‌ication of immigration documents) and United States v. Purvis, 762 F.

Supp. 535 (S.D.N.Y. 1991) (addressing manipulation of government payroll checks).

7. 18 U.S.C. § 201(a)(1)–(3) (def‌ining the terms “public off‌icial,” “person who has been selected to be a

public off‌icial,” and “off‌icial act”).

8. Id. § 201(c)(1)(A)–(B) (def‌ining the offense as applied to the offeror and as applied to the offeree or

recipient).

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