[DannyTN]

The old “no duty to provide honest services” defense.

[Alberta's Child]

It’s a legitimate defense. “Honest services fraud” was one of the main charges Robert Mueller’s team filed in all those silly cases against Russians who were allegedly “interfering” in the 2016 election.

It’s a bogus charge that is only brought by prosecutors when they can’t find any real crime in a case — like those wealthy Hollywood people who were charged with faking credentials for their children in the recent college admissions “scandal.”

Honest services fraud is really designed for narrow cases where a public official working in a volunteer capacity is engaged in criminal activity but can’t be charged for defrauding the public under traditional fraud statutes because the public cannot document a tangible financial loss.

[Chode]

yup, oldest trick in the book...