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Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Part I · Chapter 11 — Bribery, Graft, and Conflicts of Interest

§ 218. Voiding transactions in violation of chapter; recovery by the United States

Statutory text

In addition to any other remedies provided by law the President or, under regulations prescribed by him, the head of any department or agency involved, may declare void and rescind any contract, loan, grant, subsidy, license, right, permit, franchise, use, authority, privilege, benefit, certificate, ruling, decision, opinion, or rate schedule awarded, granted, paid, furnished, or published, or the performance of any service or transfer or delivery of any thing to, by or for any agency of the United States or officer or employee of the United States or person acting on behalf thereof, in relation to which there has been a final conviction for any violation of this chapter, and the United States shall be entitled to recover in addition to any penalty prescribed by law or in a contract the amount expended or the thing transferred or delivered on its behalf, or the reasonable value thereof.

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

  1. Pub. L. 87–849 § 1(e) · 76 Stat. 1119

    Enacted · 18 U.S.C. § 218

    (Added Pub. L. 87–849, § 1(e), Oct. 23, 1962, 76 Stat. 1125.)

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    (Added Pub. L. 87–849, § 1(e), Oct. 23, 1962, 76 Stat. 1125.)

0 of 1 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 218 was renumbered section 213 of this title and subsequently repealed.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective 90 days after , see section 4 of Pub. L. 87–849, set out as a note under section 201 of this title.

Executive Documents

Ex. Ord. No. 12448. Exercise of Authority

Ex. Ord. No. 12448, , 48 F.R. 51281, provided:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and statutes of the United States of America, including section 218 of title 18 of the United States Code, and in order to provide federal agencies with the authority to promulgate regulations for voiding or rescinding contracts or other benefits obtained through bribery, graft or conflict of interest, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. The head of each Executive department, Military department and Executive agency is hereby delegated the authority vested in the President to declare void and rescind the transactions set forth in section 218 of title 18 of the United States Code in relation to which there has been a final conviction for any violation of chapter 11 of title 18.

Sec. 2. The head of each Executive department and agency described in section 1 may exercise the authority hereby delegated by promulgating implementing regulations; provided that the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General Services and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration jointly shall issue government-wide implementing regulations related to voiding or rescission of contracts.

Sec. 3. Implementing regulations adopted pursuant to this Order shall, at a minimum, provide the following procedural protections:

(a) Written notice of the proposed action shall be given in each case to the person or entity affected;

(b) The person or entity affected shall be afforded an opportunity to submit pertinent information on its behalf before a final decision is made;

(c) Upon the request of the person or entity affected, a hearing shall be held at which it shall have the opportunity to call witnesses on its behalf and confront any witness the agency may present; and

(d) The head of the agency or his designee shall issue a final written decision specifying the amount of restitution or any other remedy authorized by section 218, provided that such remedy shall take into consideration the fair value of any tangible benefits received and retained by the agency.

Ronald Reagan.

Credits

(Added Pub. L. 87–849, § 1(e), , 76 Stat. 1125.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc18.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-05-04

USLM identifier /us/usc/t18/s218