	Introduction

On February 2, 2012, the Senate passed S. 2038 , the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 (STOCK Act). 2572 , which the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved on December 1 of last year. The House, however, stripped Title II from S. 2038 , and the bill was enacted into public law without it. The bills would expand the scope of these and related federal statutes, increase the penalties for those convicted, and amend related procedures to facilitate prosecution. Several would extend the reach of federal anti-corruption statutes read more narrowly in Skilling , Sun Diamond , and Valdes . Application of the statutes to public corruption was based on the theory that the mail and wire fraud statutes protected both tangible as well as intangible property and that such intangible property included the right of an employer or the public to the honest services of an employee or public official:
An increasing number of courts ... have held that a recreant employee can be prosecuted [for mail fraud] under §1341 if he breaches his allegiance to his employer by accepting bribes or kickbacks in the course of his employment, since such conduct defrauds the employer of his right to the employee's honest and faithful services. H.R. 2572 and Title II would each expand the mail and wire fraud definition of the term "scheme to defraud" to include a scheme "by a public official to engage in undisclosed self-dealing." Bribery and Gratuity Changes

		Section 201

The bills also seek to overcome Sun Diamond and Valdes , two judicial interpretations of the basic federal bribery and illegal gratuities statute, 18 U.S.C. H.R. The statute of limitations for certain securities fraud cases, for instance, is six years. The bills would amend the venue statute to add language italicized above that would permit trial of an offense, involving use of the mail or interstate commerce or entry of individual or goods into the United States, "in any district in which an act in furtherance of the offense is committed." Bribery of federal officials, mail fraud, and wire fraud are already predicate offenses. H.R. 2572 would increase the maximum term of imprisonment for bribery under subsection 201(b) to 20 years and the maximum term for illegal gratuities under subsection 201(c) to five years. 2572 , unlike Title II, would also limit all other Section 201 bribery or illegal gratuities offenses to cases involving $1,000 or more. Section 641 now prohibits the theft or embezzlement of federal property. H.R.
The House Judiciary Committee has approved an amended version of the Clean Up Government Act (H.R. 2572). The Senate has passed nearly identical provisions as Title II of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (S. 2038). Title II, however, was dropped from the bill prior to its enactment as P.L. 112-105, 126 Stat. 291 (2012). Among other things, Title II and H.R. 2572 would each:
Expand the scope of federal mail and wire fraud statutes to reach undisclosed self-dealing by public officials—in response to Skilling. Amend the definition of official act for bribery purposes—to overcome the Valdes decision. Adjust the federal gratuities provision to reach "goodwill" gifts—in response to Sun Diamond. Increase the criminal penalties that attend various bribery, illegal gratuities, embezzlement statutes, and related provisions. Extend the statute of limitations from five to six years for several corruption offenses. Authorize the trial of perjury and obstruction charges in the district of the adversely effected judicial proceedings. Authorize the trial of multi-district cases in any district in which an act in furtherance is committed. Increase the number of public corruption offenses considered and wiretap predicate offenses.
H.R. 2572, alone, would:
Increase the maximum penalties under the federal bribery and illegal gratuities statute. Amend the federal law criminalizing the theft or embezzlement of federal property to include property of the District of Columbia. Limit the prosecution of bribery and illegal gratuity cases under 18 U.S.C. 201 to cases involving $1,000 or more.
This report is available in an abridged version, as CRS Report R42015, Prosecution of Public Corruption: An Abridged Overview of Amendments Under H.R. 2572 and S. 2038, by [author name scrubbed], which lacks the footnotes, attributions, and citations to authority found in this report. Related CRS Reports include CRS Report R40852, Deprivation of Honest Services as a Basis for Federal Mail and Wire Fraud Convictions, by [author name scrubbed], and CRS Report R41930, Mail and Wire Fraud: A Brief Overview of Federal Criminal Law, by [author name scrubbed].