18 USC 208: Acts affecting a personal financial interest

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18 USC 208: Acts affecting a personal financial interest

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18 USC 208: Acts affecting a personal financial interest
Text contains those laws in effect on June 14, 2026
From Title 18-CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I-CRIMES
CHAPTER 11-BRIBERY, GRAFT, AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
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§208. Acts affecting a personal financial interest
(a) Except as permitted by subsection (b) hereof, whoever, being an officer or employee of the executive
branch of the United States Government, or of any independent agency of the United States, a Federal
Reserve bank director, officer, or employee, or an officer or employee of the District of Columbia, including a
special Government employee, participates personally and substantially as a Government officer or
employee, through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or
otherwise, in a judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract,
claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter in which, to his knowledge, he, his
spouse, minor child, general partner, organization in which he is serving as officer, director, trustee, general
partner or employee, or any person or organization with whom he is negotiating or has any arrangement
concerning prospective employment, has a financial interestShall be subject to the penalties set forth in section 216 of this title.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply(1) if the officer or employee first advises the Government official responsible for appointment to his or
her position of the nature and circumstances of the judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a
ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular
matter and makes full disclosure of the financial interest and receives in advance a written determination
made by such official that the interest is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect the integrity of
the services which the Government may expect from such officer or employee;
(2) if, by regulation issued by the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, applicable to all or a portion
of all officers and employees covered by this section, and published in the Federal Register, the financial
interest has been exempted from the requirements of subsection (a) as being too remote or too
inconsequential to affect the integrity of the services of the Government officers or employees to which
such regulation applies;
(3) in the case of a special Government employee serving on an advisory committee within the meaning
of chapter 10 of title 5 (including an individual being considered for an appointment to such a position), the
official responsible for the employee's appointment, after review of the financial disclosure report filed by
the individual pursuant to chapter 131 of title 5, certifies in writing that the need for the individual's services
outweighs the potential for a conflict of interest created by the financial interest involved; or
(4) if the financial interest that would be affected by the particular matter involved is that resulting solely
from the interest of the officer or employee, or his or her spouse or minor child, in birthrights(A) in an Indian tribe band nation or other organized group or community including any Alaska Native

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section208&num=0&edition=prelim

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