Opinion ID: 3158584
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Federal Programs Bribery Convictions

Text: In pertinent part, 18 U.S.C. § 666 makes it unlawful to “corruptly” give anything of value to an “agent of an organization, or of a State, local, or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof” or for such an agent to “corruptly” accept anything of value where the relevant organization or government entity receives federal “benefits in excess of $10,000.” 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), (a)(2), (b). At trial, the Government introduced evidence to show that the City received more than $10,000 in federal assistance and that Mazer was acting as a City agent when 6 he “corruptly” accepted, and Aronshtein “corruptly” paid, bribes. Mazer and Aronshtein now challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s determination that Mazer was an agent of the City. Aronshtein additionally challenges the sufficiency of the evidence establishing that he had knowledge of Mazer’s status as an agent of the City. Neither argument persuades us. First, the evidence was more than sufficient for the jury to find that Mazer was an agent of the City. 18 U.S.C. § 666(d)(1) defines an “agent” as, among other things, “a person authorized to act on behalf of another person or a government,” and the evidence amply supports the jury’s determination that Mazer had authority to act on behalf of the City. Contrary to defendants’ arguments, the mere fact that Mazer was hired to work on the CityTime project by the City’s Office of Payroll Administration (“OPA”) does not mean that he lacked authority to act on behalf of the City. CityTime was not an OPA-specific project, but a City-wide one, initiated to update the payroll system of 80 City agencies and accounted for in the City’s capital budget. Consistent with this, the CityTime contract and each amendment thereto was entered into “by . . . the City of New York, acting through its Office of Payroll Administration.” E.g., App. 1088 (emphasis added); see United States v. Moeller, 987 F.2d 1134, 1137-38 (5th Cir. 1993) (holding that employees of the Texas Federal Inspection Service were agents of the Texas Department of Agriculture, in part, because “TFIS performed discretionary functions on behalf of TDA”). Further, the evidence was clear that Mazer personally had authority to act on behalf of and bind the City in connection with his work on CityTime. Second, we also reject Aronshtein’s contention that the jury lacked a sufficient basis to find that he had knowledge of Mazer’s status as an agent of the City. The Government 7 introduced evidence at trial showing that Aronshtein knew of Mazer’s role in the hiring process for CityTime, and Aronshtein testified on direct examination that Mazer had described his work as involving a “project for the city.” Trial Tr. 4556:3-4 (emphasis added).