In other words, the underlying activity is legal and socially acceptable in most situations. In fact, it is often called effective sales and marketing, wining and dining the customer, or maintaining good will. Yet when such activity is focused, directly or indirectly, on a “foreign official” the U.S. government is inclined to call it bribery.
In short, the meaning of “foreign official” determines whether a criminal law applies to an interaction in the global marketplace. The Esquenazi decision expanded regulation of business interactions with a “well-defined group of persons” (as correctly noted by the 5th Circuit in U.S. v. Castle) to an ill-defined, practically boundless category of persons.
via Do You Now Understand Why The Meaning Of “Foreign Official” Matters? « FCPA Professor
