Hush money

For other uses, see Hush money (disambiguation).

Hush money is a slang term for a form of bribery, in which one person or party offers another an attractive sum of money or other enticement, in exchange for remaining silent about some illegal, stigmatic, or shameful behavior, action, or other fact about the person or party who has made the offer.

The person or party who presents the hush money may be attempting to avoid criminal prosecution, a lawsuit (as sometimes in the case of an out-of-court settlement), a leak of information to the news media, or silence about a stigmatic issue within one's own community. The information being covered up may include illegal activity, such as drug dealing, or some personal secret, such as an extramarital affair. In some cases, a government agency may be involved in the offer of hush money in order to protect the agency's employees, politicians and their appointees, or a national government in its standing among other nations in the world. It is usually given under the table.