02/16/2023

This Legal Advisory provides a high-level summary of notable legislation in the 117th Congress.

01/30/2023

This Legal Advisory provides guidance on how the Federal ethics rules and conflict of interest statute at 18 U.S.C. § 208 apply to use of official social media accounts by executive branch employees.

01/23/2023

This Legal Advisory discusses the application of the outside earned income limitations to mining, staking, and delegated staking of cryptocurrency.

01/05/2023

This Legal Advisory identifies the 2023 thresholds for: (1) determining which senior employees are subject to the post-employment restrictions; (2) identifying which officers and employees must file public financial disclosure reports; and (3) implementing the outside employment and outside earned income restrictions for certain covered noncareer employees.

11/14/2022

This Legal Advisory provides guidance on the application of the post-employment restrictions in the ethics pledge in Executive Order 13989 to appointees who signed the ethics pledge.

07/22/2022

OGE has completed its annual survey of prosecutions involving the conflict of interest criminal statutes and other related statutes for calendar year 2021.

07/15/2022

This Legal Advisory discusses financial disclosure reporting considerations for collectible Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Fractionalized Non-Fungible Tokens (F-NFTs).

07/05/2022

This Legal Advisory discusses the application of the 18 U.S.C. § 208 securities and mutual fund exemptions to cryptocurrency, stablecoins, and related investments.

05/19/2022

This Legal Advisory discusses the application of the financial disclosure and conflict of interest rules to mutual funds purchased through the Thrift Savings Plan mutual fund window.

04/25/2022

This Legal Advisory clarifies that pursuant to the sector fund exemption, an employee may participate in a particular matter that affects a non-sector line of business or subsidiary of a company that operates within the sector that is the focus of the fund.

01/13/2022

This Legal Advisory identifies the 2022 thresholds for: (1) determining which senior employees are subject to the post-employment restrictions; (2) identifying which officers and employees must file public financial disclosure reports; and (3) implementing the outside employment and outside earned income restrictions for certain covered noncareer employees.

10/22/2021

This Legal Advisory announces the issuance of updated guidance to assist ethics officials in identifying and analyzing potential conflicts of interest that can arise from various financial interests. This series of documents covers various types of financial interests, as well as interests arising from employment and employment-related assets, and is available on OGE’s website.

09/28/2021

In this Legal Advisory, OGE publishes a letter to an agency DAEO that discusses the risks that may arise when agency employees mix official agency content with personal posts from their personal social media accounts.

08/02/2021

OGE has completed its annual survey of prosecutions involving the conflict of interest criminal statutes and other related statutes for calendar year 2020.

06/09/2021

This Legal Advisory explains new language in the ethics pledge that pertains to incoming appointees and memorializes OGE’s interpretation of language common to this ethics pledge and prior ethics pledges to reflect advice that OGE has provided in the past.

03/11/2021

This Legal Advisory summarizes key legislation from the 116th Congress, including legislation that has been reintroduced in the current Congress. This Legal Advisory highlights enacted or proposed legislation that is relevant to the executive branch ethics program and relevant to specific agencies. This Legal Advisory also provides the updated Compilation of Federal Ethics Laws.

02/23/2021

This Legal Advisory compares Executive Order 13989 to two prior Executive Orders containing ethics pledges – Executive Order 13770 and Executive Order 13490. The attached table identifies past OGE guidance relating to E.O. 13770 or E.O. 13490 that may be relied upon with respect to E.O. 13989.

02/18/2021

This Legal Advisory provides guidance to agency heads and Designated Agency Ethics Officials on the application of section 3 of Executive Order 13989.

01/22/2021

On January 20, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order titled “Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel.” Pursuant to the Executive Order, OGE is providing a copy of the Ethics Pledge and a link to the Executive Order. The Legal Advisory also addresses the revocation of Executive Order 13770.

01/06/2021

This Legal Advisory briefly describes Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), and Business Development Companies (BDCs), and provides guidance on the financial disclosure reporting requirements and conflicts of interest analysis applicable to each of these assets. Ethics officials should consider REITs and MLPs as operating businesses and BDCs as investment funds, and report and analyze them accordingly. The appendices to this document serve as a quick reference for disclosure guidance and conflicts of interest analysis for these assets.

01/05/2021

This Legal Advisory identifies the 2021 thresholds for: (1) determining which senior employees are subject to the post-employment restrictions; (2) identifying which officers and employees must file public financial disclosure reports; and (3) implementing the outside employment and outside earned income restrictions for certain covered noncareer employees.

12/10/2020

This Legal Advisory reminds executive branch employees of the gifts and fundraising rules relevant to 2021 Presidential Inaugural events.

12/07/2020

This Legal Advisory addresses recurring questions about the gifts analysis for virtual events. The Legal Advisory clarifies that ethics officials should analyze virtual events under the same framework as in-person events.

10/29/2020

This Legal Advisory provides guidance on the post-Government employment restrictions applicable to employees who signed the Ethics Pledge under E.O. 13770. The advisory expands on the post-Government employment guidance included in LA-17-03.

10/22/2020

This Legal Advisory provides guidance on certain types of communications, made without an intent to influence, that OGE views as permissible under 18 U.S.C. § 205(a)(2). The Legal Advisory clarifies that submitting certain applications or forms on behalf of another is permissible if employees’ submissions consist of factual information and seek routine action that do not contain an appreciable element of dispute.

10/06/2020

This Legal Advisory provides answers to frequently asked questions for employees engaged in crowdsourced fundraising. The advisory addresses a range of topics, including determining when gifts are based on an employee's official position and accepting donations from fundraising campaigns started by others.