{"id":6148,"date":"2010-06-24T14:41:40","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T19:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/?p=6148"},"modified":"2011-01-20T14:04:05","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T19:04:05","slug":"scotus-on-the-honest-services-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/2010\/06\/24\/scotus-on-the-honest-services-law\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS on the &#8220;honest services&#8221; law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/files\/2010\/06\/Supreme-Court-building-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Supreme Court building\" width=\"105\" height=\"105\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/files\/2010\/06\/Supreme-Court-building-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/files\/2010\/06\/Supreme-Court-building-300x299.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/files\/2010\/06\/Supreme-Court-building.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 105px) 100vw, 105px\" \/>The<a href=\"http:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/\"> Supreme Court<\/a> <a title=\"restricted\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/06\/25\/us\/25scotus.html?hp\" target=\"_blank\">restricted<\/a> a favorite tool for pursuing corrupt politicians and self-dealing corporate chiefs, ruling that the\u00a0law that makes it a crime to deprive the public or one&#8217;s employer of the &#8220;intangible right of honest services&#8221; can only be used where they could prove defendants accepted bribes or kickbacks.\u00a0 It means, for instance, that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.enron.com\/\">Enron<\/a> ex-CEO Jeff Skilling&#8217;s conviction on the &#8220;honest services&#8221; law\u00a0is thrown out &#8212;\u00a0but not the other charges he was convicted of.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/bu.edu\/law\">Law<\/a> Professor <a title=\"Elizabeth Nowicki\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/faculty\/profiles\/bios\/visiting\/nowicki_e.html\" target=\"_blank\">Elizabeth Nowicki<\/a>, both a former <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sec.gov\/\">SEC<\/a> attorney and Wall Street lawyer, says the opinion finally gives some insight into newly appointed\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the_press_office\/Background-on-Judge-Sonia-Sotomayor\/\">Justice Sonia Sotomayor&#8217;s<\/a> view on business fraud.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Surprisingly, she sided with the justices who struck down the \u2018honest services\u2019 doctrine for vindicating cases of overt fraud.\u00a0 This is a troubling blow for those who care about protecting investors and business integrity.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Contact Elizabeth Nowicki, 518-867-5355, <a href=\"mailto:enowicki@bu.edu\">enowicki@bu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court restricted a favorite tool for pursuing corrupt politicians and self-dealing corporate chiefs, ruling that the\u00a0law that makes it a crime to deprive the public or one&#8217;s employer of the &#8220;intangible right of honest services&#8221; can only be used where they could prove defendants accepted bribes or kickbacks.\u00a0 It means, for instance, that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4491],"tags":[3244,3199,2854,3243,3234,1972,1962,3232,3242,3233,3245,561,533,1246],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6148"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7689,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions\/7689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-devl.bu.edu\/bunow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}