Criminal
May 29, 2009
The Letter of the Law
There are long-standing splits on what principles separate a criminal deprivation of one's "honest services" from a civil or ethical lapse.
It is a federal crime, under 18 U.S.C. Sections 1341-46, to use the mail or wires to further "any scheme or artifice to defraud," including a scheme "to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services." Read literally, the statute would criminalize calling in sick to work when you really intend to spend the day at the beach, for that deprives your employer of your services that day. Recognizing the potential for such absurd results, the appellate courts have not read the provi...
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