Virginia Beach Bribery Lawyer
By law, bribery is when a person either offers some sort of benefit or financial inducement to a public servant in order to get that public to make a certain decision. If they are a public servant and they accept that recipient, they are guilty of receiving a bribe. Virginia Beach bribery lawyers have the knowledge and experience to handle cases relating to bribery. Consult a qualified attorney today to see what you can do about bribery charges.
Circumstances of Bribery Charges
Circumstances of bribery charges include making an offer to an elected official or someone within government to get them to do something. For example, it would be considered bribery if a person offered an elected official or governmental entity a monetary value in exchange for them to vote a certain way. Then, the person can be charged and convicted of bribery.
The most common circumstance of a bribery is when there is a vote coming up and a person offers a representative or delegate money in exchange for voting in a certain way.
Penalties of Bribery Conviction
Bribery is a Class 5 felony. It is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
However, penalties can be different for the bribery of a federal official. In addition to a Class 5 felony, there can be a fine of up to three times the monetary value of whatever was used for giving the bribe, and bribing a federal official is a punishable by up to 15 years in federal prison.
What is Extortion?
Extortion is when a person threatens another person with some sort of harm, like physical harm, financial harm or emotional harm, ; it can be financial harm to perform an act or to do something.
Bribery is offering a person some sort of financial inducement to do something, but the threat of harm is not present. With extortion, a person is threatening another person to get them to do something.
For example, when a person threatens an elected official by threatening to expose incriminating photos in order to persuade them to vote in a certain manner, then that would be considered extortion. If there is damaging information and someone will leak it in exchange for what they want, it is extortion. Talk to a professional Virginia Beach bribery lawyer for more on the difference between the bribery and extortion.
Penalties of Extortion Conviction
Extortion in Virginia is a Class 5 felony, so it is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
How a Virginia Beach Bribery Lawyer Can Help
A Virginia Beach bribery lawyer can help a person get their version of events straight. They can investigate the situation and assess whether or not the case is simply a business deal. Bribery and extortion are technical terms – there are things that the Commonwealth must prove in order to get their conviction. A Virginia Beach bribery lawyer can help a person try to avoid getting serious felony charges or try to minimize consequences, reducing jail sentences and other punishments.
