Judge Matz on Thursday issued his much-anticipated written ruling on the defendants’ “foreign official” motion. The defense had challenged the government’s position that state-owned companies are “instrumentalities” of foreign governments under the FCPA and that payments to employees of such companies may therefore be criminal bribes under the law. The judge ruled that the legislative history of the FCPA is “inconclusive” as to the scope of its application to state-owned companies. However, he concluded, “a state-owned corporation having the attributes of CFE may be an ‘instrumentality’ of a foreign government within the meaning of the FCPA, and officers of such a state-owned corporation…may therefore be ‘foreign officials’ within the meaning of the FCPA.
Read more: Judge Issues Written Ruling on FCPA ‘Foreign Official’ Definition — AmLaw Litig. Daily
