with a bribe (which is one possible method of assessing value), the bribe amount may sometimes significantly diverge from what that thing of value might fetch in the open market. Imagine a computer costs $1,000 if purchased from an online retailer, but a government IT worker can purchase the same computer for $500 using her government discount. If someone bribes the worker with $100 in order to acquire the computer (the “thing of value”) at the discounted price, the open market value of the computer is still $1,000, even though the bribe amount is $100.[1]
Looking to our sister circuits’ treatment of § 666(a), we find multiple valuation methods in use. As this court has done, other circuits have held that the bribe amount is a potentially useful (if non-exclusive) proxy. See, e.g., United States v. Owens, 697 F.3d 657, 659 (7th Cir. 2012) (“[T]he bribe amount ‘may suffice as a proxy for value; at least it provides a floor for the valuation question.’” (quoting United States v. Robinson, 663 F.3d 265, 275 (7th Cir. 2011))); United States v. Fernandez, 722 F.3d 1, 13 (1st Cir. 2013) (“[T]he value of the bribe may be relevant in determining the value of the bribe’s objective.”); United States v. Townsend, 630 F.3d 1003, 1012 (11th Cir. 2011) (“We agree that the market approach is a valid method for determining the value of an intangible obtained through bribery.”). But some circuit courts also look to “the value of the benefit the bribe-giver will receive if the bribe is successful,” Owens, 697 F.3d at 659, or to “the value of the benefit to third parties ‘with an immediate interest in the transaction,’” United
- ↑ Alternatively, one could argue that the subject matter of the bribe in this example is the $500 government discount, rather than the computer itself. Regardless, the point remains that the value of the thing exchanged will not always equate to the bribe amount.
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