Federal Court: DOJ Free to Pursue Alternate Theories for FCPA Jurisdiction

In a commentary for FCPA Blog, Holland & Knight’s Timothy Belevetz discusses a recent criminal case in which a district court judge rejected the defendant’s argument that an indictment cannot allege competing bases for FPCA jurisdiction to stack a series of charges. The defendant was indicted for allegedly attempting to bribe the president of Chad and the foreign minister of Uganda to obtain business with their governments for his clients. The indictment alleged the defendant violated the FCPA’s the domestic concern statute based on the actions he took as an agent of an organization located in the U.S. and the territorial jurisdiction statute based on conduct within the United States. In moving to dismiss, the defendant argued that it was improper to charge both statutes simultaneously based on the same misconduct, but the district court agreed with the government that the statutes are not mutually exclusive. The government argued that as a non-U.S. citizen, the defendant could be charged under either statute, and that the government was entitled to suggest alternative theories to the jury. The court agreed that the government could charge under both theories.

Read the full post at FCPA Blog