06/22/2020

Congress established the Office of Government Ethics in 1978 to be the policy and prevention body for ethics in the executive branch. At the same time, Congress saw a need for specialized investigators to help detect and combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the executive branch.

7/30

8/13

9/15

This Legal Advisory discusses the recent amendments to the gifts and travel reimbursements reporting thresholds at 5 C.F.R. §§ 2634.304 and 2634.907(g) and the widely attended gathering (WAG) gift exception ceiling for nonsponsor gifts of free attendance at 5 C.F.R. § 2635.204(g)(3).

In this Program Advisory, OGE asks each agency to forward its annual letter stating whether its components that are currently designated should remain designated for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 207(c). Any request to modify the existing list of components should be submitted in accordance with regulatory procedures.

This Legal Advisory reminds agency ethics officials that under 18 U.S.C. § 208, an employee may not participate in any particular matter that would have a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of a company in which the employee (or any imputed person) owns stock, not merely those particular matters that would affect the stock price.