On Tuesday, June 29, 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the government corruption convictions against former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and ex-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy.  The Court ordered the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the matters in light of the ruling in Skilling v. United States, 561 US ___ (2010), the case of former Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling. 

In the Skilling case (reported in our blog), the Supreme Court interpreted the honest services fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, which prohibits “a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.”  The Supreme Court limited the scope of the honest services fraud statute so that it covers only bribes and kickback schemes.  In other words, the Supreme Court limited the scope of prosecutions under the honest service fraud statute to those cases where prosecutors put forward evidence that defendants accepted bribes or kickbacks. (more…)