Can a government employee be convicted under Section 208(a) of the Criminal Code of the United States for failing to disclose a conflict of interest in a particular matter?

Section 208(a) regulates a limited set of "particular matters," generally arising out of discrete matters with a direct impact on the government employee's finances. See 5 C.F.R. 2640.103(a)(1) (listing examples that involve the award and maintenance of government contracts, specific hiring decisions, and use of a particular business's services). Illustrative cases under 208(a) underscore the link between the conflict and a real, rather than speculative, interest in a particular matter. See, e.g., United States v. Selby, 557 F.3d

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968, 975 (9th Cir. 2009) (per curiam) (employee whose husband earned commission from a software sale to the government had sufficient financial interest to sustain conviction under 208(a) where she had actively lobbied for increased use of her husband's software); United States v. Jewell, 827 F.2d 586, 587 (9th Cir. 1987) (financial interest requirement of 208(a) was met where the government employee signed invoices authorizing payment to his own company); United States v. Smith, 267 F.3d 1154, 1156-57 (D.C. Cir. 2001) (referral of patients to specific mental health clinic to which defendant had loaned money was sufficient under 208(a)).