Page:United States v. Delgado (19-20697) (2021) Opinion.pdf/14

 intending to be influenced or rewarded in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more. 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B).

Each of Counts Two, Three, and Four is based on the separate successful stings conducted by the FBI after Perez began cooperating as an informant. Count Two corresponds with the December 2016 sting, where Perez paid Delgado $260 in order to secure the release of Raul Sanchez on a $5,000 PR bond. Count Three corresponds with the November 2017 sting, where Perez paid Delgado another $260 to secure the release of Lucio Leija on a $5,000 PR bond. Count Four corresponds with the January 2018 sting, where Perez paid Delgado $5,500 in cash outside the restaurant to secure the release of Jose Garza on a $5,000 PR bond.

As an initial matter, Delgado raises an identical challenge to Counts Two and Three on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to establish the $5,000 minimum transactional value element for each offense under § 666(a)(1)(B). Specifically, he argues that the jury lacked sufficient evidence to conclude that the PR bonds awarded by Delgado to Perez’s clients had a value of at least $5,000. In support of his argument, Delgado relies on our decision in United States v. Marmolejo, 89 F.3d 1185 (5th Cir. 1996), for the proposition that it is the bribe amount—roughly $250 for each PR bond here—that exclusively constitutes the valuation of transactions under § 666(a)(1)(B). We reject this reading of Marmolejo.

In Marmolejo, the sheriff of Hidalgo County was convicted of federal program bribery under § 666(a)(1)(B) for accepting bribes in exchange for permitting a prisoner to receive conjugal visits at the Hidalgo County jail. 89 F.3d at 1188. In affirming the conviction, this court first held that the term