	Introduction

On February 2, 2012, the Senate passed S. 2038 , the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 (STOCK Act). The House, however, stripped Title II from S. 2038 , and the bill was enacted into public law without it. 2572 refers to the bill ordered to be reported as reflected in the Manager's Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute, as amended in Judiciary Committee markup. 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. Faced with vagueness challenges, the lower federal courts devised a number of standards to limit the scope of honest services mail and wire fraud. H.R. 2572 and Title II both would 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 Changes

Section 20 1 : 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. 201—bribery and illegal gratuities alike—to cases involving $1,000 or more. 2572 , alone, would increase the penalty for bribery of U.S. officials from 15 to 20 years, and for illegal gratuities from 2 to 5 years. The statute of limitations for certain securities fraud cases, for instance, is six years. The bills would amend the venue statute to 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." H.R. H.R. Section 641 now prohibits the theft or embezzlement of federal property. H.R. 2572 , unlike Title II, would expand the section to cover property of the District of Columbia.
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 (STOCK 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 is an abridged version of a longer report, CRS Report R42016, Prosecution of Public Corruption: An Overview of Amendments Under H.R. 2572 and S. 2038, by [author name scrubbed], without the footnotes, attribution, or citations to authority found in the longer 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].