4 ms·
Help me understand how this bribery works. If someone "donates" iPads to "the Sheriff's Office", does this mean that they can be taken by people who work there
by rmk 6y ago
Help me understand how this bribery works. If someone "donates" iPads to "the Sheriff's Office", does this mean that they can be taken by people who work there (for example, Sung could sell them on and pocket the cash)? What is the mechanism here? The cut-and-dry case would be asking for a cash bribe and pocketing it, so is this a way of making the bribe look like something else?
- paxys 6y agoSomething tells me this was never going to be an official, on-the-books donation. So yes, the iPads would likely never have made their way to the department itself.
- _ph_ 6y agoWhether the recipients of the iPads had direct personal benefits or they were just donated for the department usage doesn't really matter with respect of bribery. Basically, you cannot make gifts of any larger value to anyone, who is somehow in a relationship to your business. Sometimes it is really annoying, if an honest gift was intended, but these szenarios are exactly the reason, why today you cannot make gifts which exceed a few free stickers or such.
- rmk 6y agoI believe this sort of thing is explicitly outlined in the FCPA, which deals with corruption by US Corporations abroad. FCPA is pretty stringent, and this is what is covered in the in-house mandatory training you end up doing at any sizeable company. However, this is within the United States and this person appears to have been acting on Apple's behalf, so how does this fall afoul of the law (what law in particular)?
- _ph_ 6y agoI am not in the US, but working at an American company. From my trainings I got the impression that the anti-corrupion rules are to be obeyed globally.
- rmk 6y agoThat's correct. They are to be obeyed globally by the (US) corporation, which is why they make you go through the training. When you are acting on behalf of the corporation you are expected to help the corporation comply with applicable law.
- CobrastanJorji 6y agoYes. It's a crime for an American to bribe US government officials, and it's also a crime for an American to bribe foreign government agents as well (that's the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act).
- rmk 6y agoFor the latter, it's the FCPA. For the former, is there a specific act that's violated, or is it just part of the US Code?
- CobrastanJorji 6y agoThe US Code is for bribing Federal officials. This one would presumably be the California felony bribery law, CA Penal Code § 67: "Every person who gives or offers any bribe to any executive officer (any public employee who is authorized to use his or her own discretion to carry out his or her lawful duties) in this state, with intent to influence him in respect to any act, decision, vote, opinion, or other proceeding as such officer, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years, and is disqualified from holding any office in this state."
- rmk 6y agoThanks! This is very informative. The disqualification from holding future public office is the most effective remedy here.