- Undercover FBI agents, posing as business executives from a fictitious company, supposedly approached Homan. They say they claimed to seek his help in securing government contracts for border security services in a potential second Trump administration. Homan allegedly met the agents at a location in Texas, where he was reportedly recorded on audio accepting a bag containing $50,000 in cash, concealed in a Cava restaurant takeout bag. During the exchange, Homan allegedly indicated he would hold the money in a trust until after his government service and assist with contracts in return.
- Investigation Context: The probe began after a separate corruption investigation was alerted to claims that Homan was soliciting bribes. Biden-era FBI and DOJ officials in the Southern District of Texas thought they had a strong case for conspiracy to commit bribery (under 18 U.S.C. § 371), as well as potential wire fraud and honest services fraud charges. The usual "anonymous sources familiar with the matter" supposedly told MSNBC that prosecutors viewed the recordings as evidence of an agreement to exchange the cash for official acts.
- Standard bribery statutes (e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 201) typically require the recipient to be a public official at the time of the exchange. Since Homan was not a public official at the time of the alleged incident, new DOJ personnel (under Attorney General Pam Bondi) and FBI (under Director Kash Patel) reviewed the accusations and cited "insufficient evidence" to prove criminal intent to a jury, influenced by recent Supreme Court rulings (e.g., Snyder v. United States, 2024) that raised the bar for proving quid pro quo corruption. A DOJ spokesperson stated there was "no credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing."
Plus, entrapment is the act of inducing a person to commit a crime they otherwise would not have committed, often through trickery or persuasion by law enforcement. In law, entrapment is used to argue that a case should not proceed.