Public Corruption

• Author: Ethan Cantor
• Pages: 1229-1277

PUBLIC CORRUPTION

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230

II. BRIBERY AND ILLEGAL GRATUITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231

A. Elements of the Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231

1. Thing of Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1232

2. Public Official or Witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233

3. Official Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235

4. Intent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236

a. Bribery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236

b. Illegal Gratuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238

B. Defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238

1. Entrapment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239

2. Due Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239

3. The Speech or Debate Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240

4. Other Defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241

1. Bribery Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

a. Offenses Involving Public Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

i. More than One Bribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

ii. Value of Greater than Six Thousand Five

Hundred Dollars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1244

iii. High-Level and Sensitive Positions . . . . . . . . 1245

iv. Immigration Official. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246

v. Facilitating Other Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246

vi. Unknown Value or Incommensurate Effect . . 1247

b. Offenses Involving Witnesses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1247

2. Illegal Gratuities Offenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1248

a. Offenses Involving Public Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1248

b. Offenses Involving Witnesses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249

III. CRIMINAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249

A. Unauthorized Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250

a. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251

b. Particular Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1252

c. Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1252

d. Services Before a Governmental Forum . . . . . . . . . . 1253

2. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253

B. Limitations on Activities of Government Officers and Employees 1254

1. Covered Persons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1254

2. “Particular Matter” and “Agent”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1255

1229

3. Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256

C. Limitations on “Revolving Door” Post-Employment Activities. 1257

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258

a. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258

b. Representation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260

c. Knowledge and Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260

2. Elements of the Offense by Subsection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261

D. Acts Affecting Financial Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1264

1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1265

a. Officer or Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1265

b. Participated “Personally and Substantially” in a

“Particular Matter”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1266

c. Knowledge of Financial Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1267

2. Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268

3. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269

E. Illegal Outside Salaries for Federal Employees . . . . . . . . . . . 1269

F. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1271

IV. THE HONEST-SERVICES DOCTRINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272

A. History of the Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272

1. Shushan and the Early Honest-Services Cases . . . . . . . . . 1272

2. McNally. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1273

3. Section 1346 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274

B. The Current Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274

1. Skilling and Black. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274

2. Elements of the Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275

a. Defraud of Honest Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275

b. Bribes and Kickbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1276

I. INTRODUCTION

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

involving government officials.

1

This Article examines several of the enumerated

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

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

federal unauthorized compensation offense and statutes that limit activities of gov-

ernment officers and employees during and after their terms of employment.

Section III also analyzes the statutory provisions governing government officials’

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

1. Chapter 11 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code is captioned “Bribery, Graft, and Conflicts of Interest” and 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 concerning programs receiving federal funds); 18 U.S.C.

§ 1951 (criminalizing extortion under color of official right affecting interstate commerce).

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improper acceptance of outside compensation. 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.

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

Section 201 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code 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: (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

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

8

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) (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). 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 elements

of § 201(b)). 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

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

6. 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”).

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

recipient).

8. Id. § 201(c).

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