The Court Reversed Mail Fraud Convictions as Inconsistent with Skilling

United States v. Hawkins & Racasi, Nos. 14-1892 & 14-1908. Hawkins and Racasi were employed as analysts on the staff of a member of the Cook County Board of Review when they accepted money from a undercover agent to arrange for lower assessed valuation for property owners. A jury found both men guilty of theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds (18 U.S.C. § 666) and mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341). The Court rejected their arguments against convictions for the § 666 counts but reversed the § 1341 convictions because treating a gratuity as a bribe is not consistent with the Supreme Court’s holding in Skilling because bribery requires a quid pro quo, planned or realized, not just the receipt of money. Accepting a reward for doing something the official would have done anyway does create a scheme to defraud under the mail fraud statute. The district court’s jury instructions on bribery allowed the jury to bypass the question of whether Hawkins and Racasi were scamming the undercover agent rather than Cook County.