brown envelopes
Discreet payoff packaging
Brown envelopes are the plain manila envelopes associated with official correspondence and, by extension, with bribery and covert payments.
The phrase often implies illicit transactions—cash bribes or leaked documents passed discreetly: Politicians caught accepting brown envelopes.
The association comes from the anonymity of unmarked business envelopes containing something meant to stay hidden.
- manilaYellowish-brown hemp material
- bribeIllicit payment for favor
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- packetSmall sealed container
- postageFee for mailing
mail · sealed · paper · office · documents · kickback · payoff · hush money · under the table · cash in hand · palm greasing · hush · no questions asked · dirty money · slush fund · money · secretive · plain
- corruptioncorruption, graft, kickbacks, bribery, bribes
brown envelopesabove board
Honest and unconcealed
clean hands · transparency · ethical conduct · integrity · good governance
brown envelopesbank transfer
Electronic movement of money
direct deposit · paper trail · payroll · wire transfer · legal fee
brown, browns, browner, brownest, brownish, browning, browned, envelope, envelopes