A number of federal and California state statutes prohibit bribery and extortion. Bribery statutes are designed to prevent people from seeking preferential treatment from public officials and to prevent public officers from using their offices for personal gain. Under a statute prohibiting bribery of federal government officials, both the official and the person offering the bribe are subject to prosecution if the official is offered or seeks anything of value for himself or herself in exchange for:

• Being influenced to perform any official act
• Committing, aiding, conspiring, or allowing a fraud to be committed upon the United States
• Being induced to do or omitting to do anything in violation of his or her official duty

Promises and offers are equally prohibited, so there is no requirement that the bribe actually occur. A separate federal statute, known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, prohibits bribery of foreign officials.

Extortion crimes often involve criminal threats in order to obtain some favor or benefit to which the accused is not otherwise entitled. These threats may take many forms, such as:

• Bodily harm, restraint or commission of a crime
• Threats to file criminal charges
• Threat to disclose a secret or other compromising information
• Threats by a public official to withhold action
• Threats of a strike or boycott;
• Threats to give or withhold testimony
• Threata to inflict harm to another (such as family or friends of the victim)

In short, it is illegal to threaten an individual for the purpose of obtaining money or property, that is, extort or blackmail them to obtain property or money. Crimes of extortion including blackmail, bribery, and ransom are generally considered felony crimes and, as such, are often met with severe consequences. Extortion is a federal offense when it interferes with interstate commerce. Under federal and state laws, extortion carries up to a 20-year prison sentence. If you are facing investigation, arrest, or criminal charges for bribery or other forms of extortion, please contact Anchor Criminal Defense for a free consultation.