White Collar Crime is a category of crime that is non-violent and usually involves a form of business activity. Despite being non-violent, bribery can have negative effects on those indirectly involved with lasting repercussions. Bribery has impacted communities as well as the country.
This article reviews what bribery is, and what it isn’t, the type of people whom it’s illegal to bribe, as well as some examples of bribery in California.
Is bribery illegal?
Yes. The Latin phrase “quid pro quo” which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “something given or received for something else”, is not illegal necessarily.
However, when a person intends to influence or corrupt an outcome with a quid pro quo, this is a crime. Bribery is the exchange of something, typically of value, for an action taken by the recipient with the intention to influence a situation or an outcome.
What’s the difference between a bribe and a gift?
Bribery requires the giver to intend to bribe the recipient. There’s an expectation that the giver will be benefited by giving the recipient something of value. A gift does not come with an explicit intention to change the recipient’s decision or take an action they would have otherwise made.
Types of Bribery
If a parent bribes a child to do their homework by offering them money, this is not illegal. The charge of bribery is brought against people who try to bribe specific people. California focuses its laws on the bribery of public officials, but this list will cover both public and private groups and individuals. Both federal and state laws govern who is not allowed to be bribed.
Some public officials include:
- Members of law enforcement
- Justices, prosecutors, judges, and jurors.
- City council members, state senators
- Foreign officials or officers
Other groups of people whom it is illegal to bribe are business owners or employees, witnesses, and sports officials.
Examples of Bribery in the News
The following are examples of bribery that occurred in California.
- A District Supervisor in Orange County pled guilty to receiving a bribe in exchange for voting for COVID-19 relief funds to a specific charity. His vote was influenced by the bribe, which is illegal. (https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/orange-county-supervisor-agrees-plead-guilty-bribery-conspiracy-involving-10-million)
- A former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles was found guilty of bribery. He had been influenced by bribes in order to determine the timeline for the hearings of real estate projects. The bribery was part of a play-to-pay scheme where developers paid the former Deputy Mayor money to influence his decisions. (https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/former-los-angeles-deputy-mayor-sentenced-12-years-prison-racketeering-conspiracy )
- Parents of California high school students used bribes to get their children into elite universities based on faked test scores and athletic accomplishments. (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme )
Penalties
The penalties for bribing a public official differ from commercial bribery.
a) Bribing a Public Official
- The crime is typically considered to be a felony. The punishment is up to four years in prison.
- The offender will also not be allowed to hold office.
b) Commercial Bribery
- Penalty is a misdemeanor when the bribe is less than $1,000.00. The punishment is up to a year in jail.
- Penalty is a felony when the bribe is more than $1,000.00. The punishment is up to three years in prison.
Defenses
There are a number of defenses that a person charged with bribery can make in court.
- The bribe was made under entrapment. Entrapment is when a member of law enforcement pretending to be a friend or confidant of a regular person influences the decision of the person to commit a crime. In the case of bribery, if a person did not intend to bribe someone but was encouraged to do so, a person can argue that they did not intend to bribe someone.
- There was no intention to bribe someone. Bribery requires intent. However, if a gift giver does not intend for the recipient to view the gift as a bribe, but the recipient sees the gift as a method of influencing the recipient’s decision-making, one could argue that the gift was a bribe. One could make the case that although the gift may have appeared to be a bribe, the intention to do so was not made apparent.
- The person being bribed did not have the authority to act in the way the giver intended. A bribe is only useful if the recipient is able to do what the giver would like them to do.
For example, if someone bribes a low-level employee to make a decision only the CEO of the company can make, then it’s not much of a bribe and therefore isn’t illegal.
