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18 USC 208—Acts
Affecting a Personal Financial Interest
(a) Except
as permitted by subsection (b) hereof, whoever, being an officer or
employee of the executive branch of the United States Government,
of any independent agency of the United States, a Federal Reserve
bank director, officer, or employee, or of the District of Columbia,
including a special Government employee, participates personally and
substantially as a Government officer or employee, through decision,
approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation,
or otherwise, in a judicial or other proceeding, application, request
for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy,
charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter in which, to
his knowledge, he, his spouse, minor child, partner, organization
in which he is serving as officer, director, trustee, partner or employee,
or any person or organization with whom he is negotiating or has any
arrangement concerning prospective employment, has a financial interest—
Shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not
more than two years, or both.
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(b) Subsection
(a) shall not apply—
(1) if the officer or employee first advises
the Government official responsible for appointment to his or her
position of the nature and circumstances of the judicial or other
proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination,
contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other
particular matter and makes full disclosure of the financial interest
and receives in advance a written determination made by such official
that the interest is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to
affect the integrity of the services which the Government may expect
from such officer or employee;
(2) if, by regulation issued by the Director
of the Office of Government Ethics, applicable to all or a portion
of all officers and employees covered by this section, and published
in the Federal Register, the financial interest has been exempted
from the requirements of subsection (a) as being too remote or too
inconsequential to affect the integrity of the services of the Government
officers or employees to which such regulation applies;
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(3) in the case if a special Government
employee serving on an advisory committee within the meaning of the
Federal Advisory Committee Act (including an individual being considered
for an appointment to such a position), the official responsible for
the employee’s appointment, after review of the financial disclosure
report filed by the individual pursuant to the Ethics in Government
Act of 1978, certifies in writing that the need for the individual’s
services outweighs the potential for a conflict of interest created
by the financial interest involved; or
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(4) if the financial interest that would
be affected by the particular matter involved is that resulting solely
from the interest of the officer or employee, or his or her spouse
or minor child, in birthrights—
(A) in an Indian tribe,
band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any
Alaska Native village corporation as defined in or established pursuant
to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which is recognized as
eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United
States to Indians because of their status as Indians, (B) in an Indian
allotment the title to which is held in trust by the United States
or which is inalienable by the allottee without the consent of the United States,
or
(C) in an Indian
claims fund held in trust or administered by the United States,
if the particular
matter does not involve the Indian allotment or claims fund or the
Indian tribe, band, nation, organized group or community, or Alaska
Native village corporation as a specific party or parties.
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(c) (1) For the purpose of paragraph
(1) of subsection (b), in the case of class A and B directors of Federal
Reserve banks, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
shall be deemed to be the Government official responsible for appointment.
(2) The potential availability
of an exemption under any particular paragraph of subsection (b) does
not preclude an exemption being granted pursuant to another paragraph
of subsection (b).
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(d) (1) Upon request, a copy of any
determination granting an exemption under subsection (b)(1) or (b)(3)
shall be made available to the public by the agency granting the exemption
pursuant to the procedures set forth in section 105 of the Ethics
in Government Act of 1978. In making such determination available,
the agency may withhold from disclosure any information contained
in the determination that would be exempt from disclosure under section
552 of title 5. For purposes of determinations under subsection (b)(3),
the information describing each financial interest shall be no more
extensive than that required of the individual in his or her financial
disclosure report under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.
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(2) The Office of Government Ethics, after
consultation with the Attorney General, shall issue uniform regulations
for the issuance of waivers and exemptions under subsection (b) which
shall—
(A) list and describe exemptions; and
(B) provide guidance
with respect to the types of interests that are not so substantial
as to be deemed likely to affect the integrity of the services the
Government may expect from the employee.
[18 USC 208.
As amended by acts of Nov. 16, 1977 (91 Stat. 1388); Nov. 30, 1989
(103 Stat. 1751); May 4, 1990 (104 Stat. 159); and Sept. 13, 1994
(108 Stat. 2140, 2142).]
