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&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;Disgraced ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy was sentenced this week to 15 months behind bars for his participation in a gambling scandal.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;(As his defense attorney has noted,&amp;nbsp;&amp;#8220;Every news account begins with the words &amp;#8216;disgraced referee.&amp;#8217;&amp;#8221; So there you go.)&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;?xml:namespace prefix=&quot;o&quot; ns=&quot;urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office&quot;?&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;Anyway, there was an interesting article by Mark Fass in yesterday&amp;#8217;s &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;New York Law Journal&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/i&gt; on the legal theory underpinning Donaghy&amp;#8217;s conviction.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In addition to the gambling charges, Donaghy was convicted of fraud for depriving the NBA &amp;#8216;intangible right&amp;#8217; to his &amp;#8216;honest services.&amp;#8217;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;Fass details the strange history of how such deprivation of &amp;#8216;honest services&amp;#8217; was defined as fraud in a last-second amendment to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The amendment, which had nothing to do with narcotics &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;per se&lt;/i&gt;, was Congress&amp;#8217; effective overturning of a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-STYLE: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic&quot;&gt;which&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt; narrowed the longstanding definition of the &amp;#8216;schemes&amp;#8217; that constitute fraud.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;That 28-word amendment &lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA&quot;&gt;(codified as 18 U.S.C. 1346)&lt;/span&gt; serves as &amp;#8220;a robust weapon for fighting not just fraud, but even mere dishonesty.&amp;#8221;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Not everyone thinks this is a good thing.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;From Fass&amp;#8217; article: &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;Is honesty, [critics] ask, an enforceable right? Should the federal government be charged with forcing private employees to comply with their company&#39;s rules? &amp;#8230; &quot;I don&#39;t see why we have to call that &#39;fraud,&#39;&quot; [law professor Michael McCann] said. &quot;The effect is that we criminalize the law of employment relations. Instead of just having an employment problem, you have a criminal problem.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;[Donaghy&#39;s attorney] John Lauro, called &amp;#167;1346 &quot;a prosecutor&#39;s best dream.&quot; Under the law, Mr. Lauro said, &quot;virtually any violation of a corporate rule,&quot; such as using the Internet for personal e-mail, &quot;could be charged as a deprivation of the right to honest services.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&quot;The scope of the law,&quot; Mr. Lauro said, &quot;is unlimited.&quot;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;Presumably it&amp;#8217;s not &amp;#8216;unlimited,&amp;#8217; but the law&amp;#8217;s breadth &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;is pretty amazing. Consider that the law has been applied to both to a degenerate gambler basketball official as well as corporate villain Jeffrey &amp;#8220;I thought the stock was a great buy&amp;#8221; Skilling.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In Vault&amp;#8217;s forthcoming &amp;#8220;State of the Law,&amp;#8221; our writer Ben Fuchs notes that Skilling&amp;#8217;s pending appeal &amp;#8220;asserts that the government&amp;#8217;s so-called &amp;#8216;honest services&amp;#8217; argument&amp;#8212;used to win convictions during the original trial&amp;#8212;was inherently flawed since Skilling was merely a faithful employee carrying out directives from the powers that were; the government responded to O&amp;#8217;Melveny&amp;#8217;s September 2007 salvo by firing back a 200-page rebuttal that essentially paints Skilling as more Geppetto than Pinocchio.&amp;#8221;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-tab-count: 5&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;-posted by brian&lt;span style=&quot;mso-tab-count: 1&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-no-proof: yes&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA&quot;&gt;&lt;?xml:namespace prefix=&quot;v&quot; ns=&quot;urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml&quot;?&gt;&lt;v:shapetype id=&quot;_x0000_t75&quot; stroked=&quot;f&quot; filled=&quot;f&quot; path=&quot;m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe&quot; o:preferrelative=&quot;t&quot; o:spt=&quot;75&quot; coordsize=&quot;21600,21600&quot;&gt;&lt;/v:shapetype&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;img height=&quot;103&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.animationartgallery.com/images/WDG/WDGLWBP.gif&quot; width=&quot;130&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;A government view of Jeffrey Skilling&lt;/p&gt;

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