Judge Receives $10K Anonymous Gift, Seeks Guidance On What To Do With It

A judge asked their state's judicial ethics committee what they should do
with an anonymous gift of $10,000 in cash. Photo: Shutterstock

A Florida judge received an unusual birthday card. Delivered to their home address, the card contained $10,000 in cash.

The judge, being an ethical person, turned the money over to the local sheriff’s office and asked the Florida Supreme Court’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee for guidance on what the judicial canons required as far as disposing of cash gifts.

After conducting an investigation, the sheriff’s office determined that the money had almost certainly been sent by a person whose case would soon be appearing before the judge.

Why would the judge need guidance from the judicial canons? Because anything they do with the gift themselves would have ethical complications.

“Canon 6 requires a judge to report gifts to the Judicial Qualifications Commissions,” the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee wrote in its opinion. “Neither Canon 6, nor its attendant commentary, address the reporting requirements if the gift is ultimately returned or disposed of in some other manner.”

“We first note that any effort by the inquiring judge to direct the method and manner in which the gift is disposed of is discouraged,” the JEAC continued. “Any such efforts by the inquiring judge calls into question the integrity of the prior judicial proceedings. Additionally, if the inquiring judge were to direct that the money be given to a particular charitable organization or other charitable groups such a decision could be perceived as the judge using the judicial office to solicit funds for a particular group,” which would be in direct violation of a different canon.

Both the judge and the ethics committee were on the same page as far as whether or not the judge should be the person directing the money.

Ultimately, the Judicial Ethics Advisory committee concluded that the judge had three choices for ethically disposing of that $10,000 gift:

1. Disclaim any interest in the money, leaving it to the sheriff’s office to decide what to do with it.
2. Request that the sheriff’s office turn the money over to the state’s unclaimed property division. 
3. Ask the sheriff’s office to return the money to the person they identified as the sender. 

What would you do if you were a judge and you received a large cash gift? What ethical guidelines does your state have in place regarding disposal of cash gifts? Please share your thoughts in the comments.