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The FBI in a statement released August 2016 said that in the preceding four years, it initiated nearly 5,000 investigations into public corruption, government fraud or election crimes. The figures are the most recent from the agency.
Over the same time period, nearly 3,000 people across the country were federally charged, by indictment or information, for their roles in these crimes, the FBI said.
Here are a few high-profile public corruption cases from recent years:
• Edwin Pawlowski, the mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Vaughn Spencer, the former mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania, were both charged with numerous violations of federal public corruption laws in indictments unsealed July 26. Federal prosecutors said both men "sold their offices to the highest bidder" in various pay-for-pay schemes, which were uncovered after a four-year investigation by the FBI and others.
Pawlowski accepted gifts including lavish dinners, Philadelphia Eagles tickets and more than $150,000 in campaign contributions in exchange for steering lucrative contracts to vendors, and Spencer bribed a city council member to try to repeal a local ethics ordinance, prosecutors said. The charges came after a four-year investigation that also has led to pleas by 10 other people. Pawlowski has denied wrongdoing; Vaughn's lawyer said he plans to fight the charges.
• Bob McDonnell, former Republican governor of Virginia, and his wife were convicted in 2014 on federal corruption charges involving gifts and loans from a businessman. However, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously vacated the decision last year because the gifts could not be tied to a specific government action. The U.S. Justice Department later announced it would not seek a new trial.
• Reggie Fullwood, a former Florida House member from Jacksonville, pleaded guilty last year to federal wire fraud and tax charges.
Federal prosecutors said Fullwood, a Democrat, funneled campaign contributions into companies he owned or controlled for his own private use. He was sentenced earlier this year to six months of home detention followed by supervision. He resigned from the Florida House last year.