Public Corruption

• Author: Emilee Lewis
• Pages: 1151-1196

PUBLIC CORRUPTION

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1152

II. BRIBERY AND ILLEGAL GRATUITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153

A. Elements of the Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153

1. Thing of Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154

2. Public Official or Witness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1155

3. Official Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156

4. Intent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157

a. Bribery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158

b. Illegal Gratuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159

B. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160

1. Entrapment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160

2. Due Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160

3. The Speech or Debate Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161

4. Other Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162

1. Bribery Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164

a. Offenses Involving Public Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164

i. More than One Bribe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164

ii. Value of Greater than Six Thousand Five

Hundred Dollars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1165

iii. High-Level and Sensitive Positions . . . . . . . . . 1166

iv. Immigration Official . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167

v. Facilitating Other Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167

vi. Unknown Value or Incommensurate Effect. . . . 1168

b. Offenses Involving Witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168

2. Illegal Gratuities Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168

a. Offenses Involving Public Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168

b. Offenses Involving Witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169

III. CRIMINAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169

A. Unauthorized Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170

a. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171

b. Particular Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172

c. Compensation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173

d. Services Before a Governmental Forum . . . . . . . . . . 1173

2. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173

B. Limitations on Activities of Government Officers and Employees 1174

1. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174

2. “Particular Matter” and “Agent”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175

1151

3. Exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176

C. Limitations on “Revolving Door” Post-Employment Activities 1177

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178

a. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178

b. Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1180

c. Knowledge and Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1180

2. Elements of the Offense by Subsection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181

D. Acts Affecting Financial Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185

a. Officer or Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185

b. Participated “Personally and Substantially” in a

“Particular Matter”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185

c. Knowledge of Financial Interest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1187

2. Exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188

3. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188

E. Illegal Outside Salaries for Federal Employees . . . . . . . . . . . 1188

F. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190

IV. THE HONEST-SERVICES DOCTRINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1191

A. History of the Honest-Services Doctrine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

1. Shushan and the Early Honest-Services Cases . . . . . . . . . 1192

2. McNally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

3. Section 1346 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193

B. The Current Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193

1. Skilling and Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193

2. Elements of the Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . 1194

a. Defraud of Honest Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1194

b. Bribes and Kickbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1195

I. INTRODUCTION

Congress has enacted several statutes to deter and punish corrupt acts involving

government officials.

1

This Article examines several of the enumerated crimes

relating to public corruption. Section II examines federal bribery and illegal gratu-

ity offenses. Section III explores criminal conflicts of interest, including the federal

unauthorized compensation offense and statutes that limit activities of government

officers and employees during and after their terms of employment. Section III

also analyzes the statutory provisions constraining a government official’s partici-

pation in activities in which the official has a financial interest, as well as improper

acceptance of outside compensation. Finally, Section IV discusses the honest-serv-

ices doctrine.

1. 18 U.S.C. ch. 11 contains a majority of the bribery, illegal gratuity, and criminal conflicts of interest

statutes discussed in this article; see also 18 U.S.C. § 666 (criminalizing theft or bribery involving federal funds);

18 U.S.C. § 1951 (criminalizing extortion under color of official right affecting interstate commerce).

1152 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 60:1151

II. BRIBERY AND ILLEGAL GRATUITY

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

nificantly revised the federal bribery statute.

2

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.

3

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

18 U.S.C. § 201 prohibits bribery and illegal gratuity.

4

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).

5

Section 201(a) sets

forth the relevant definitions of “public official” and “official act.”

6

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

7

To

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

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

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

because of any official act performed or to be performed by such public official.”

8

The critical distinction between bribery and illegal gratuity is that bribery

requires proof of intent, while illegal gratuity does not.

9

Thus, bribery requires “a

specific intent to give or receive something of value in exchange for an official

act,” whereas an illegal gratuity requires only an award for some future or past

act.

10

2. 18 U.S.C. §§ 201–209. 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). 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).

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

regulations outlawing various kinds of gratuities).

4. 18 U.S.C. § 201.

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

elements). This Article will not address bribery offenses involving fraud or violations of lawful duty as these

offenses are prosecuted less frequently. For examples of bribery cases involving fraud, see cases cited infra note

13. For examples of violations of lawful duty, see cases cited infra note 14.

6. 18 U.S.C. § 201(a)(1)–(3).

7. Id. § 201(c)(1)(A)–(B).

8. Id. § 201(c).

9. United States v. Sun-Diamond Growers of Cal., 526 U.S. 398, 404 (1999) (“The distinguishing feature

[between bribery and illegal gratuities] is [bribery’s] intent element.”).

10. Sun-Diamond, 526 U.S. at 404–05; see also United States v. Verrusio, 762 F.3d 1, 15–17 (D.C. Cir. 2014)

(finding an official’s acceptance of gifts and services as a reward for future legislative assistance constitutes

illegal gratuity).

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