Opinion ID: 3010893
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pre-Salinas

Text: Prior to Salinas, courts evaluated the requisite relationship under S 666 between a corrupt act and federal funds or programming from a number of different perspectives. Several courts viewed the statute'splain language as lacking any requirement, either implicitly or as an element of the offense, that the government prove federal money was directly involved in, or traceable in some way to, the corrupt transaction. Bolstering their view was the rationale that Congress sought to cast a broad net in protecting the integrity of agencies receiving federal funds and thus enacted S 666 with the specific intent to eliminate any tracing requirements that previously had obstructed prosecution efforts. See United States v. Westmoreland, 841 F.2d 572, 576-578 (5th Cir. 1988) (holding that direct involvement of federal funds in transaction is not an essential element of bribery charge under S 666); see also United States v. Pretty, 98 F.3d 1213, 1218-1219 (10th Cir. 1996) (finding that the defendant was chargeable under S 666 even if actual money could not be traced to a federal program); United States v. Paradies, 98 F.3d 1266, 1288-89 (11th Cir. 1996) (agreeing with Westmoreland that S 666 does not require that the government trace the flow of federal funds to a particular project); United States v. Valentine, 63 F.3d 459, 464-65 (6th Cir. 1995) (holding that government does not need to prove that the misappropriated funds actually came from a federal program in a theft case); United States v. Simas, 937 F.2d 459, 463 (9th Cir. 1991) (concluding that the government was not required to trace federal funds to the project at issue to establish a S 666 violation). Interpreting a different subsection of S 666, others held that the program touched by bribery need not be the direct and actual recipient of $10,000 per year in federal funds. See United States v. Coyne, 4 F.3d 100, 109-110 (2d Cir. 1993) (finding that S 666 lacks any requirement that the program at issue be the actual recipient of federal funds); United States v. Little, 889 F.2d 1367, 1369 (5th Cir. 1989) (same). When asked to uphold convictions or find defendants guilty with no proof of a federal interest in the corrupt act, 9 however, some courts were reluctant to do so. See United States v. Foley, 73 F.3d 484, 488-493 (2d Cir. 1996) (reversing Foley's conviction after government did not prove that corruption in some way touched on federal funds); United States v. Frega, 933 F. Supp. 1536, 1540-1541 (S.D. Cal. 1996) (dismissing indictment for failure to allege that federal funds were corruptly administered, were in danger of being corruptly administered, or even could have been corruptly administered.). Courts in this camp expressed concern that interpreting S 666 to have no federal interest requirement would make a federal offense out of routine local bribery, dramatically changing the state-federal balance without an express Congressional directive that it intended to do so. See Frega, 933 F. Supp. at 1540. Courts finding that a federal connection is required were comfortable reaching this result even though they agreed that S 666 does not require tracing of funds or proof of an effect on federal funds and programs. For example, the Ninth Circuit's holding in Simas, that tracing is not required, did not prevent the District Court for the Southern District of California from concluding in Frega that S 666 requires a federal connection. Likewise, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held thatS 666 does not require that the corrupt act actually affected federal funds in United States v. Bonito, 57 F.3d 167, 172173 (2d Cir. 1995), but concluded in a subsequent case that S 666 does require proof that the corruption has some connection with federal funds. See Foley, 73 F.3d at 493. A circuit split was created between the Second and Fifth Circuits when the Fifth Circuit held that a defendant's conduct fell within S 666 without specifically requiring a connection between the corrupt act and the federal funds, other than the fact that the accepters of the bribes were local government agents with duties relating to a federallyfunded program. See United States v. Marmolejo, 89 F.3d 1185, 1203 (5th Cir. 1996), aff'd, Salinas v. United States, 118 S. Ct. at 474.3 Neither Foley nor Marmolejo was a _________________________________________________________________ 3. Marmolejo and Foley also parted ways regarding how to determine whether the transactions at issue are equal to or greater than $5,000 in value. 10 unanimous decision.4