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The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that severance payments made prior to government service with the intention to supplement lower federal salaries did not violate 18 U.S.C. § 209. The court also held that section 209 did not require an injury in the form of corruption or actual conflict of interest and that an appearance of conflict was sufficient to violate section 209.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12280600192052446561&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr