Source: https://oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/All%20Advisories%20by%20Year?OpenView&RestrictToCategory=2000
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 03:13:35+00:00

Document:
This memorandum provides guidance on issues concerning the activities of members of the President-elect's Transition Team. OGE also describes how nominee financial disclosure forms will be processed during the transition.
A judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) would not qualify as an “eligible person” for a Certificate of Divestiture, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 1043(b)(1)(A). CAAF judges are not executive branch employees.
The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issue two opinions, one concerning the scope of the exemption at 18 U.S.C. § 207(j)(7) and the other addressing the scope of 18 U.S.C. § 207(d).
OGE concluded that the limitation in the final clause of the exclusion to 18 U.S.C. § 208 contained in 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(4) involving financial interests by birthright, covers only certain particular matters that involve specific parties.
OGE determined that, although an employee would violate 18 U.S.C. § 205 if he represented taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service, 18 U.S.C. § 205 does not prohibit an employee from assisting another in preparing their income tax returns.
In O'Neill v. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 220 F.3d 1354 (2000), the court of appeals determined that an employee does not act as "agent" for another person, under 18 U.S.C. § 205, unless the employee has actual or apparent authority to act on behalf of that person in dealings with the Government.
OGE issues a proposed rule amending 5 C.F.R. part 2640 by revising some existing exemptions and adding new exemptions.
OLC concluded that 18 U.S.C. § 209 ordinarily does not preclude outside royalty payments to employee-inventors who privately commercialize inventions for which the Government has permitted them to obtain patent rights.
OGE publishes an interim rule amending 5 C.F.R. § 2635.807(a), the prohibition on employee receipt of compensation for outside teaching, speaking, and writing.
The extent to which ethics laws and regulations apply to public-private exchange participants often depends on whether those persons are considered "employees" of the Federal Government.
OGE decided that an employee could have accepted a prize he won while attending a trade show on official assignment. The trade show was open to the general public and so was the contest. A test of knowledge as a condition of selecting finalists did not operate as a constraint on who could participate.
OGE issues the March 2000 edition of the SF 278.
(Legal) 00x5: Can OGE Exempt District of Columbia Employees From Criminal Conflict of Interest Laws?
OGE is not aware of any statutory authority allowing it to categorically exempt the District of Columbia or its employees from the Federal conflict of interest laws contained in Chapter 11, Title 18 of the United States Code.
An employee is not necessarily precluded from acting in matters before an oversight group because his spouse receives a salary for service as the Executive Director of local nonprofit organizations having interests in matters before the group. Whether participation is permissible or appropriate will require an analysis of the facts in each situation.
OGE decided that the exemption at 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(4) is limited to circumstances where the employee holds a financial interest by birthright, and even then, the exemption could not operate to exempt imputed financial interests of an organization for which the employee serves as a director.
In Van Ee v. Environmental Protection Agency, the D.C. Circuit concluded that 18 U.S.C. § 205(a)(2) does not prohibit the communications which the plaintiff in the case, a career employee, proposed to make.
OGE letter to an agency clarifying, 1) an agencies' responsibility to furnish OGE with all information necessary for OGE to perform its duties, 2) OGE's authority for interpreting its own regulations, and 3) an agencies' responsibility to report information concerning criminal violations.
Brokerage statements, as well as bank statements, personal spreadsheets, and any other financial materials, are acceptable as attachments in lieu of direct entries on an SF 278 only if they meet the statutory and regulatory reporting requirements.

References: § 1043
 § 207
 § 207
 § 208
 § 208
 § 205
 § 205
 v. 
 § 205
 § 209
 § 2635
 § 208
 v. 
 § 205