Between 1993 and 1997, petitioner paid the then-majority leader of the Pennsylvania Senate, Senator F. Joseph Loeper, Jr., more than $330,000 for consulting services that Loeper allegedly performed for petitioner's tax collection business. Petitioner and Loeper concealed their business relationship while Loeper undertook legislative action that directly benefitted their business interests.

More specifically, in 1993, petitioner and Loeper entered into an agreement under which petitioner paid Loeper a monthly consulting fee. Superseding Information para. Loeper failed to disclose the payments on state disclosure forms that were intended to inform Pennsylvania voters of possible biases held by their legislative representatives. Petitioner directed third persons to pay Loeper's consulting fees, and did not report his payments to Loeper on federal tax forms. Loeper also lied to a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter in August 1997 concerning the nature of his business relationship with petitioner, and both Loeper and petitioner asked third parties to confirm Loeper's misrepresentations to the reporter.

During that time, Loeper engaged in legislative action beneficial to petitioner's business. Petitioner specialized in collecting Pennsylvania's "business privilege tax" for local governments. Petitioner's tax collection techniques eventually became controversial, and state legislative proposals in 1994 and 1995 sought to prohibit them.

When the proposed legislation came before the Pennsylvania Senate, Loeper outspokenly opposed it and introduced an amendment to strike the provisions aimed at eliminating petitioner's collection techniques. At the time Loeper was taking legislative action that benefitted petitioner's business, petitioner owed Loeper over $37,000. Within days of Loeper's actions on the Senate floor, he received hidden payments-including a secret $5000 cash payment-at petitioner's direction.