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§ 201. Bribery of public officials and witnesses
18 USCA § 201United States Code AnnotatedTitle 18. Crimes and Criminal ProcedureEffective: December 22, 2023 (Approx. 4 pages)
§ 201. Bribery of public officials and witnesses
18 USCA § 201United States Code AnnotatedTitle 18. Crimes and Criminal ProcedureEffective: December 22, 2023 (Approx. 4 pages)
United States Code Annotated
Title 18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure (Refs & Annos)
Part I. Crimes (Refs & Annos)
Chapter 11. Bribery, Graft, and Conflicts of Interest (Refs & Annos)
Effective: December 22, 2023
18 U.S.C.A. § 201
§ 201. Bribery of public officials and witnesses
(1) the term “public official” means Member of Congress, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, either before or after such official has qualified, or an officer or employee or person acting for or on behalf of the United States, or any department, agency or branch of Government thereof, including the District of Columbia, in any official function, under or by authority of any such department, agency, or branch of Government, or a juror;
(3) the term “official act” means any decision or action on any question, matter, cause, suit, proceeding or controversy, which may at any time be pending, or which may by law be brought before any public official, in such official's official capacity, or in such official's place of trust or profit;
(ii) any senior foreign political figure, as defined in section 1010.605 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation;
(A) an organization that is designated by Executive order pursuant to section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288); or
(1) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises anything of value to any public official or person who has been selected to be a public official, or offers or promises any public official or any person who has been selected to be a public official to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent--
(3) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers, or promises anything of value to any person, or offers or promises such person to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent to influence the testimony under oath or affirmation of such first-mentioned person as a witness upon a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, before any court, any committee of either House or both Houses of Congress, or any agency, commission, or officer authorized by the laws of the United States to hear evidence or take testimony, or with intent to influence such person to absent himself therefrom;
(4) directly or indirectly, corruptly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally or for any other person or entity in return for being influenced in testimony under oath or affirmation as a witness upon any such trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in return for absenting himself therefrom;
shall be fined under this title or not more than three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both, and may be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
(A) directly or indirectly gives, offers, or promises anything of value to any public official, former public official, or person selected to be a public official, for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by such public official, former public official, or person selected to be a public official; or
(B) being a public official, former public official, or person selected to be a public official, otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty, directly or indirectly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by such official or person;
(2) directly or indirectly, gives, offers, or promises anything of value to any person, for or because of the testimony under oath or affirmation given or to be given by such person as a witness upon a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, before any court, any committee of either House or both Houses of Congress, or any agency, commission, or officer authorized by the laws of the United States to hear evidence or take testimony, or for or because of such person's absence therefrom;
(3) directly or indirectly, demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally for or because of the testimony under oath or affirmation given or to be given by such person as a witness upon any such trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or for or because of such person's absence therefrom;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.
(d) Paragraphs (3) and (4) of subsection (b) and paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c) shall not be construed to prohibit the payment or receipt of witness fees provided by law, or the payment, by the party upon whose behalf a witness is called and receipt by a witness, of the reasonable cost of travel and subsistence incurred and the reasonable value of time lost in attendance at any such trial, hearing, or proceeding, or in the case of expert witnesses, a reasonable fee for time spent in the preparation of such opinion, and in appearing and testifying.
(e) The offenses and penalties prescribed in this section are separate from and in addition to those prescribed in sections 1503, 1504, and 1505 of this title.
(1) Offense.--It shall be unlawful for any foreign official or person selected to be a foreign official to corruptly demand, seek, receive, accept, or agree to receive or accept, directly or indirectly, anything of value personally or for any other person or nongovernmental entity, by making use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, from any person (as defined in section 104A of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (15 U.S.C. 78dd-3), except that that definition shall be applied without regard to whether the person is an offender) while in the territory of the United States, from an issuer (as defined in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a))), or from a domestic concern (as defined in section 104 of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (15 U.S.C. 78dd-2)), in return for--
in connection with obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person.
(4) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of State as relevant, shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and post on the publicly available website of the Department of Justice, a report--
(5) Rule of construction.--This subsection shall not be construed as encompassing conduct that would violate section 30A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78dd-1) or section 104 or 104A of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (15 U.S.C. 78dd-2; 15 U.S.C. 78dd-3) whether pursuant to a theory of direct liability, conspiracy, complicity, or otherwise.
CREDIT(S)
(Added Pub.L. 87-849, § 1(a), Oct. 23, 1962, 76 Stat. 1119; amended Pub.L. 91-405, Title II, § 204(d)(1), Sept. 22, 1970, 84 Stat. 853; Pub.L. 99-646, § 46(a) to (l), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3601; Pub.L. 103-322, Title XXXIII, §§ 330011(b), 330016(2)(D), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2144, 2148; Pub.L. 118-31, Div. E, Title LI, § 5101, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 931.)
Footnotes
Section 190 of the Revised Statutes (5 U.S.C. 99), which was repealed by section 3 of Public Law 87-849, applied to a former officer or employee of the Government who had served in a department of the executive branch. It prohibited him, for a period of two years after his employment had ceased, from representing anyone in the prosecution of a claim against the United States which was pending in that or any other executive department during his period of employment. The subject of postemployment activities of former Government officers and employees was also dealt with in another statute which was repealed. 18 U.S.C. 284. Public Law 87-849 covers the subject in a single section enacted as the new 18 U.S.C. 207.
See section 2 of Public Law 87-849. 18 U.S.C. 281 and 18 U.S.C. 283 were not completely set aside by section 2 but remain in effect to the extent that they apply to retired officers of the Armed Forces (see “Retired Officers of the Armed Forces,” infra).
S.Rept. 2213, 87th Cong., 2d sess., p. 6.
The term “official responsibility” is defined by the new 18 U.S.C. 202(b) to mean “the direct administrative or operating authority, whether intermediate or final, and either exercisable alone or with others, and either personally or through subordinates, approve, disapprove, or otherwise direct Government action.”
These two provisions of section 205 refer to an “officer or employee” and not, as do certain of the other provisions of the Act, to an “officer or employee, including a special Government employee.” However, it is plain from the definition in section 202(a) that a special Government employee is embraced within the comprehensive term “officer or employee.” There would seem to be little doubt, therefore, that the instant provisions of section 205 apply to special Government employees even in the absence of an explicit reference to them.
The prohibitions of the two subsections apply to persons ending service in these areas whether they leave the Government entirely or move to the legislative or judicial branch. As a practical matter, however, the prohibitions would rarely be significant in the latter situation because officers and employees of the legislative and judicial branches are covered by sections 203 and 205.
Neither section 203 nor section 205 prevents a special Government employee, during his period of affiliation with the Government, from representing another person before the Government in a particular matter only because it is within his official responsibility. Therefore the inclusion of a former special Government employee within the 1-year postemployment ban of subsection (b) may subject him to a temporary restraint from which he was free prior to the end of his Government service. However, since special Government employees usually do not have “official responsibility,” as that term is defined in section 202(b), their inclusion within the 1-year ban will not have a widespread effect.
Subsection (a), as it first appeared in H.R. 8140, the bill which became Public Law 87-849, made it unlawful for a former officer or employee to act as agent or attorney for, or aid or assist, anyone in a matter in which he had participated. The House Judiciary Committee struck the underlined words, and the bill became law without them. It should be noted also that the repealed provisions of 18 U.S.C. 283 made the distinction between one's acting as agent or attorney for another and his aiding or assisting another.
18 U.S.C.A. § 201, 18 USCA § 201
Current through P.L. 118-41. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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