PUBLIC CORRUPTION
I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952
II. BRIBERY AND ILLEGAL GRATUITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
A. Elements of the Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
1. Thing of Value . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954
2. Public Official or Witness . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955
3. Official Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956
4. Intent . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
a. Bribery . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
b. Illegal Gratuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
B. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
1. Entrapment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960
2. Due Process . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960
3. The Speech or Debate Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
4. Other Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962
1. Bribery Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963
a. Offenses Involving Public Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963
i. More than One Bribe . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964
ii. Value of Greater than Six Thousand Five
Hundred Dollars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964
iii. High-Level and Sensitive Positions . . . . . . . . . 965
iv. Immigration Official . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
v. Facilitating Other Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
vi. Unknown Value or Incommensurate Effect . .. . 967
b. Offenses Involving Witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
2. Illegal Gratuities Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
a. Offenses Involving Public Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
b. Offenses Involving Witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
III. CRIMINAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
A. Unauthorized Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970
1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970
a. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971
b. Particular Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972
c. Compensation . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972
d. Services Before a Governmental Forum . . . . . . . . . . 973
2. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
B. Limitations on Activities of Government Officers and Employees 973
1. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974
2. “Particular Matter” and “Agent”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
951
3. Exceptions . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
C. Limitations on “Revolving Door” Post-Employment Activities 977
1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
a. Covered Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
b. Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980
c. Knowledge and Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980
2. Elements of the Offense by Subsection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
D. Acts Affecting Financial Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
1. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984
a. Officer or Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984
b. Participated “Personally and Substantially” in a
“Particular Matter”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985
c. Knowledge of Financial Interest . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986
2. Exceptions . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987
3. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987
E. Illegal Outside Salaries for Federal Employees . . . . . . . . . . . 988
F. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989
IV. THE HONEST-SERVICES DOCTRINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990
A. History of the Honest-Services Doctrine . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
1. Shushan and the Early Honest-Services Cases . . . . . . . . . 991
2. McNally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
3. Section 1346 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
B. The Current Honest-Services Doctrine . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
1. Skilling and Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
2. Elements of the Honest-Services Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
a. Defraud of Honest Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
b. Bribes and Kickbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994
I. INTRODUCTION
Congress has enacted several statutes to deter and punish corrupt acts involving
government officials.
1
This Article examines several 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 unauthor-
ized compensation offense and statutes that limit the activities of government offi-
cers and employees during and after their terms of employment. Section III also
analyzes the statutory provisions constraining a government official’s participation
in activities in which the official has a financial interest, as well as improper accep-
tance of outside compensation. Finally, Section IV discusses the honest-services
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).
952 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 62:951
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 illegal gratuity requires only an award for some future or past act.
10
Additionally, there are two other notable differences between the elements of
bribery and illegal gratuity. First, although both offenses apply to present and
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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