The US government just raised the price of ethics violations

The US Office of Government Ethics has increased the civil penalties for violating the Ethics in Government Act. This means that government employees who break ethics rules will now pay higher fines.

Every year, the government adjusts its civil penalties for inflation. This particular adjustment means that the financial cost of ethics violations for government employees just went up. It's a small, routine change, but it makes the consequences of breaking the rules slightly more expensive.