[20190212]LSB10258_47亿美元的收入并不总是一种收益.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Receipt of $4.7 Billion Is Not Always a Benefit February 12, 2019 According to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (First Circuit) in United States v. Bravo-Fernndez, evidence that Puerto Rico received $4.7 billion in federal assistance is not enough to prove that the Commonwealth received at least $10,000 in federal program benefits under the federal program bribery statute. At the time of the First Circuits most recent opinion, the case was making a third trip up the appellate ladder. The case began when Juan Bravo-Fernndez (Bravo), a businessman, provided Hector Martinez-Maldonado (Martinez), a member of the Puerto Rican Senate, with a trip to Las Vegas complete with first-class hotel accommodations, expensive meals, and highly priced tickets to a boxing match. A trial jury convicted the pair of violating the federal program bribery statute. The statute prohibits any agent of a private or governmental recipient of more than $10,000 in a single year in benefits under a federal program from soliciting or accepting anything of value, worth more than $5,000, with the