Honest Services Fraud: What's Left? 3-9-11




Federalist Society Event Audio show

Summary: Last year, in its "Honest Services Cases" the Supreme Court purported to confine the statute making it a crime to defraud another of "the intangible right to honest services" to the "core offenses" of bribery and kickbacks, discarding conflict of interest and breach of fiduciary duty as bases for prosecution. Has the Court succeeded? Is "bribery" in public corruption cases still too vague a concept to eliminate prosecutions that risk turning politics into a crime? What are the federalism implications of such prosecutions? Does the honest services statute have any remaining utility in the commercial context? Does it have any utility at all, or do other criminal statutes prohibiting bribery, public program fraud, extortion, and kickbacks fulfill its goals? Panelists included Mr. John Elwood of Vinson & Elkins & former Assistant Solicitor General of the United States; Mr. Ronald Safer of Schiff Hardin LLP and co-counsel in US v. Conrad Black et al.; Mr. Brian Murray of Jones Day and petitioner's counsel in Weyhrauch v. United States; and Mr. Gil Soffer, of Katten Muchin Rosenman & former Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States as the moderator.