Influence peddling, also calledtraffic of influence ortrading in influence, is the practice of using one's influence in government or connections with authorities to obtain favours or preferential treatment for another, usually inreturn for payment. Influence peddlingper se is not necessarily illegal, as theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has often used the modified term "undue influence peddling" to refer to illegal acts of lobbying;[1] however, influence peddling is typically associated with corruption and may therefore delegitimise democratic politics with the general public. It is punishable as a crime in Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Portugal, Romania,[2] Spain, and the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
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In December 2008,Rod Blagojevich, the thenGovernor of Illinois, was accused of influence peddling in attempting to sell theU.S. Senate seat vacated by the then President-electBarack Obama.[3] Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was later pardoned by then-PresidentDonald Trump by February 2020.Larry O'Brien, the thenmayor of Ottawa, was brought to trial on similar grounds in May 2009. O'Brien was accused of purported influence peddling. On 5 August 2009, both charges were dismissed.[4]
In April 2009, formerNewfoundland and Labrador politicianEd Byrne was convicted of influence peddling for his actions in the Constituency Allowance Scandal. He was the first of four politicians convicted in relation to the Scandal and the remaining politicians are on or awaiting trial.[5]
In 2012,Amado Boudou, the thenvice president of Argentina, was accused of being a mere straw owner of the printing house Ciccone Calcográfica, a private company that has contracts to print over 120 million new Argentine pesos banknotes, license plates, and other government issues. The scandal became known asBoudougate, as the contracts were awarded by Boudou himself when he was theEconomy Minister.[6] In 2018, Boudou was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in prison, as well as being banned from running for office. He was granted parole in 2021, 5 years into his sentence[7]
In theRadia tapes controversy of the late 2000s and early 2010, Nira Radia was under investigation for using her connections with Indian politicians and members of the Indian media to tilt the auction of multi-million dollar licence contracts in favour of certain companies and individuals. No major charges were brought against Radia, and the case did not result in convictions.[8]
In 2014, former French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy was investigated due to alleged influence peddling. Sarkozy was convicted in March 2021 for corruption and influence peddling. He was sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended and one year to be served under house arrest.[9][10]
In April 2015, thePublic Prosecutor's Office of Brazil opened an investigation for influence peddling againstLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at the time a formerpresident of Brazil. It was alleged that, between 2011 and 2014, he lobbied forOdebrecht company to gain public procurements in foreign countries while also gettingBNDES to finance those projects. Countries where this allegedly took place includeGhana,Angola,Cuba, and theDominican Republic.[11] Lula was later convicted on separate corruption charges and imprisoned but was released in 2019 after Brazil's Supreme Court annulled his sentences. In 2022, Lula was re-elected as president of Brazil.
On 9 December 2016, the National Assembly impeachedPark Geun-hye, thepresident of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, on charges related to influence peddling by her top aideChoi Soon-sil, andHwang Kyo-ahn, the thenPrime Minister of South Korea, assumed her powers and duties as Acting President as a result. TheConstitutional Court of Korea upheld the impeachment by a unanimous 8–0 ruling on 10 March 2017, thereby removing Park from office. On 6 April 2018, South Korean courts sentenced her to 24 years in prison; this was later increased to 25 years, and Park was imprisoned at Seoul Detention Center. In 2018, two separate criminal cases resulted in an increase of seven years in her prison sentence. She was found guilty of illegally taking off-the-book funds from theNational Intelligence Service and given a five-year prison sentence, and also found guilty of illegally interfering in theSaenuri Party primaries in the2016 South Korean legislative election, for which she was sentenced to two more years in prison.[12][13][14][15]
In November 2023, theOrder and Justice political party ofLithuania was convicted throughlast instance for charges dating back to 2013, when it pressured a number of connected or dependentcivil servants working forMinistry of the Interior (Lithuania),Ministry of Environment (Lithuania) to influence results ofpublic procurement to benefit specific businessman who in turn donated or illegitimately paid for political campaign publicity.[16]
TheBiden family has faced allegations of influence peddling related to foreign business dealings.[17][18] In 2025, President Joe Biden issued a pardon for his brother,James Biden, who was under investigation for allegedly leveraging the family's political connections for financial gain. The pardon effectively ended the probe, drawing criticism and raising questions about accountability and ethics in public office.[19]
In March 2025,Bernard Squarcini, former head of France's domestic intelligence agency, was convicted of influence peddling and sentenced to four years in prison. Squarcini was found guilty of leveraging his official position to benefit luxury conglomerate LVMH by accessing confidential police files and conducting unauthorized surveillance on behalf of the company.[20]