Albert B Fall, a member of US President Warren G Harding's cabinet, is found guilty of bribery on this day. He was punished with a fine of $100,000 and one year in prison. He was the first member of any president's cabinet to be convicted of a crime during his term.

Fall had accepted a $100,000 interest free 'loan' from Edward Doheny of the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company. Dohney wanted Fall to assist him by granting a valuable oil lease in the Elk Hills naval oil reserve in California.

Fall had, earlier, championed the transfer of a number of oil reserves (including the Teapot Dome in Wyoming) to the Department of the Interior, on the understanding that he would be able to make a personal gain in the subsequent lease of the land to private corporations.

It was discovered, during a Senate Public Lands Committee investigation, that Harry Sinclair, president of Mammoth Oil, had given Fall $300,000 in bonds and cash in exchange for a lease on the Teapot Dome oil reserve in Wyoming.