Law enforcement considers a federal bribery charge as an offense of high priority. The integrity of the system by which contracts are awarded and legislation is passed needs to be viewed by the public with a high amount of trust. If the public believes the system is rigged or that pay for play is the only way to go, and honest contractors cannot get a fair shake, those honest contractors will cease to exist.
This may make individuals commit something such as bribery, and that is not good for the economy, the government, or for the quality of work that is going to be done for the government. In many ways, the protection and the integrity of that system is something that affects everyone, even if they have no idea that it is affecting them, because all individuals fund those institutions through their taxes and therefore, are all affected by cases like this. For these reasons, bribery charges are treated extremely seriously by the authorities and warrant the attention of a Virginia federal bribery attorney as soon as possible.
Initial Investigation
What matters most to the investigation is what the federal investigator has, what they can find, and what they can prove. They are not going to indict anybody or arrest anybody unless they feel confident that they are going to be able to win.
Some might argue that the severity of the crime might make an investigation last longer, because law enforcement wants to make sure they get it right. However, the severity of a federal bribery charge in Virginia does not directly correlate to the length of time the case takes to process.
Arrest Process
Usually, the government waits until they feel that they have the necessary evidence before they are going to place somebody under arrest. There are exceptions to that, however. If they feel like a person is part of a bribery scheme that involves multiple people and they have enough information on that person to prove something illegal happened, they may arrest them.
However, law enforcement might not have the full scope of the federal bribery charge at this point. They might bring in that lower level person, place them under arrest, have them face the threat of punishment for their role in the scheme, and under that threat provide them an opportunity to testify against other people that might be higher up in the scheme.
This process normally occurs when the Virginia federal bribery charge is more severe. This could lighten that individual’s penalties, but secure more and more evidence against the higher ups in a conspiracy to commit bribery or corruption.
Enforcement of the Charges
A person needs to be prepared to be prosecuted vigorously if engaged in a scheme of bribery because the severity of this offense brings forward serious penalties. Prosecutors and judges have little patience for folks who engage in this type of behavior. Therefore, if a person finds themselves in the works of an investigation that involves bribery, they need to immediately acquire legal counsel.
