Ever been offered some money to help someone resolve a situation favorably? What about giving money to someone to ensure your child is picked in a contest or for a sporting team? If you have, you’ve committed the common law crime of bribery. Course, bribery is only charged when dealing with public officials, but the examples above show how common it can be. Committing bribery is defined by popular legal dictionaries as “offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty.” A bribery crime can also be related to Extortion.
Charged for Committing Bribery?
Being charged for committing bribery carries significant penalties, and there are many ways to commit bribery. The first typical example is using your position at work as a decision maker to get illicit benefits in favoring one party or another, such as receiving money for picking one service provider over another. Another way to commit bribery is when you give expensive gifts in exchange for being selected for a position in public or private sector office. Both the person giving the bribe and the person receiving the bribe will be charged for committing bribery, absent a thorough explanation of how and when the gift was given as being coincidental rather than a form of bribery.
Penalties and Sentencing for a Bribery Offense
Depending if the charges are state bribery or federal bribery charge, the penalties and sentencing can widely vary. For example, in a federal bribery charge, you would like face having to pay a penalty of three times the amount of the bribe, and be sentenced to no more than 15 years in federal prison. State charges can be as severe, but are usually lighter. In California, the law allows a maximum fine of twice the amount of the bribe or $10,000, and a sentencing ranging from 1 year in the county jail or up to 4 years in the state prison.
Defending a Bribery Charge
Defending a bribery charge can be done, but it must be addressed immediately and fully detailed. For example, a coincidental gift given when someone receives a favorable decision must be shown that it occurs in the normal course of events, and that the decision did not influence the offer or acceptance of a gift. Those who are fully open in how they operate their business can prove that giving a gift was not the result of seeking a favorable situation. Typically, those who fail at defending against the charge do so because they cannot show that the gift or service received was not the result of receiving a favorable decision.
Help from a White Collar Crime Lawyer
Bribery charges are very serious matters, and result in extensive penalties and/or limitation of rights in working in certain business sectors. Hiring an experience criminal attorney will ensure that you can defend yourself against such charges, and help you in organizing a complete and thorough defense of the charge. Without a lawyer, you leave yourself open to the possibility of receiving large fines and significant jail time by not presenting a complete legal defense.
