Articles Federal Jury Finds Foreign Agent of Domestic Concern Guilty of FCPA and Money Laundering Violations By Aixa Maldonado-Quinones | November 12, 2019 By Aixa Maldonado-Quinones Last Friday, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut found Lawrence Hoskins, a former senior executive of French power and transportation company Alstom S.A., guilty of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), Title 15, United States Code, Sections 78dd-1, et seq. He was also convicted for engaging in international financial transactions with the intent to promote violations of the FCPA. The subject conduct took place from 2002 to 2009, when Alstom subsidiaries in Connecticut, Indonesia and Switzerland placed bids towards a $118 million dollar contract with Indonesia’s owned and controlled power company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara, in order to provide electrical service to the citizens of that country. According to the third superseding indictment, the Alstom subsidiaries retained two consultants for the purpose of paying bribes to Indonesian officials in exchange for their influence and assistance in awarding the contract to Alstom. Hoskins was employed by Alstom’s subsidiary in the UK and assigned to work with the company’s French subsidiary. During the course of the scheme, Hoskins neither worked for the U.S. subsidiary, nor travelled to the United States. It was alleged that Hoskins was in charge of selecting the third party consultants and thereafter approving the payments to be forwarded to Indonesian officials. The FCPA proscribes, inter alia, the use of the mails or instrumentalities of interstate commerce by certain identified individuals and entities in furtherance of offering, making or promising payment, or authorizing the payment of money, or giving anything of value to a foreign government official in order to influence or induce any act or decision in a certain way or obtain an improper advantage. Section 78dd-2 identifies four groups of individuals who may be held criminally responsible for violating the FCPA: (1) American citizens, nationals, and residents regardless of whether they violate the statute domestically or abroad; (2) most American companies that violate the FCPA regardless of whether they violate the statute domestically or abroad; (3) agents, employees, officers and shareholders of most American companies, when they act on behalf of the company, regardless of whether they violate the statute domestically or abroad; and (4) foreign nationals who violate the FCPA while in the U.S. The statute does not apply to foreign individuals or entities located outside of the United States who pay the bribes, and neither do business in the U.S. nor act on behalf of a domestic concern. The indictment charged Hoskins with conspiring to violate the FCPA by acting as an agent for Alstom’s U.S. subsidiary when he selected the third party consultants who paid the bribes. The prosecution also alleged that notwithstanding his role as an agent, Hoskins had also conspired with Alstom-Connecticut and its employees to violate the FCPA. The money laundering conspiracy count filed against Hoskins focused on his use of the emails and telephone to direct others to wire funds to the third party consultants. The remaining international promotional money laundering counts centered on the wiring of funds from a third party consultant’s account in Maryland to a place outside the U.S. in order to promote the FCPA violations. During the course of the protracted procedural history, Hoskins moved to dismiss the FCPA conspiracy count claiming he was neither a resident of the U.S. nor a national doing business in the U.S. The district court agreed, and in August 2015 dismissed the count implicating Hoskins in a conspiracy to violate the FCPA. Three years later, in August 2018, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal in part holding that while the government could not use a conspiracy charge to force extraterritorial application of the FCPA to Hoskins, he could nonetheless be criminally liable if the government showed that he was an agent of a domestic concern. The Court reasoned that while the FCPA defines a “domestic concern” as citizens, nationals, or residents of the United States and companies with a principal place of business in the U.S. or organized in the U.S., the officers, directors, employees or agents of a domestic concern need not meet all of the elements of a domestic concern nor do they need to do business in the U.S. Therefore, the fact that Hoskins never travelled to the United States to execute acts in furtherance of the FCPA violations was of no consequence, given his role as an agent of Alstom’s U.S. subsidiary in Connecticut. The Department of Justice’s news release alleges that the evidence at trial included emails where Hoskins and others discussed the use of third party consultants to pay bribes, as well as his decision to retain a second third party consultant following concerns that the first consultant would not come through as agreed once the project was awarded to Alstom. The evidence also showed that after Hoskins pressured the parent company’s dealings with the second consultant, the company was successfully awarded the project. Aside from fines, and monetary assessments, Hoskins now faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years imprisonment for both the conspiracy and substantive FCPA counts, and a maximum 20-year imprisonment sentence for the conspiracy and substantive money laundering counts. His sentencing has been set for January 30, 2020. Short bio missing
Federal Jury Finds Foreign Agent of Domestic Concern Guilty of FCPA and Money Laundering Violations By Aixa Maldonado-Quinones | November 12, 2019 By Aixa Maldonado-Quinones Last Friday, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut found Lawrence Hoskins, a former senior executive of French power and transportation company Alstom S.A., guilty of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), Title 15, United States Code, Sections 78dd-1, et seq. He was also convicted for engaging in international financial transactions with the intent to promote violations of the FCPA. The subject conduct took place from 2002 to 2009, when Alstom subsidiaries in Connecticut, Indonesia and Switzerland placed bids towards a $118 million dollar contract with Indonesia’s owned and controlled power company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara, in order to provide electrical service to the citizens of that country. According to the third superseding indictment, the Alstom subsidiaries retained two consultants for the purpose of paying bribes to Indonesian officials in exchange for their influence and assistance in awarding the contract to Alstom. Hoskins was employed by Alstom’s subsidiary in the UK and assigned to work with the company’s French subsidiary. During the course of the scheme, Hoskins neither worked for the U.S. subsidiary, nor travelled to the United States. It was alleged that Hoskins was in charge of selecting the third party consultants and thereafter approving the payments to be forwarded to Indonesian officials. The FCPA proscribes, inter alia, the use of the mails or instrumentalities of interstate commerce by certain identified individuals and entities in furtherance of offering, making or promising payment, or authorizing the payment of money, or giving anything of value to a foreign government official in order to influence or induce any act or decision in a certain way or obtain an improper advantage. Section 78dd-2 identifies four groups of individuals who may be held criminally responsible for violating the FCPA: (1) American citizens, nationals, and residents regardless of whether they violate the statute domestically or abroad; (2) most American companies that violate the FCPA regardless of whether they violate the statute domestically or abroad; (3) agents, employees, officers and shareholders of most American companies, when they act on behalf of the company, regardless of whether they violate the statute domestically or abroad; and (4) foreign nationals who violate the FCPA while in the U.S. The statute does not apply to foreign individuals or entities located outside of the United States who pay the bribes, and neither do business in the U.S. nor act on behalf of a domestic concern. The indictment charged Hoskins with conspiring to violate the FCPA by acting as an agent for Alstom’s U.S. subsidiary when he selected the third party consultants who paid the bribes. The prosecution also alleged that notwithstanding his role as an agent, Hoskins had also conspired with Alstom-Connecticut and its employees to violate the FCPA. The money laundering conspiracy count filed against Hoskins focused on his use of the emails and telephone to direct others to wire funds to the third party consultants. The remaining international promotional money laundering counts centered on the wiring of funds from a third party consultant’s account in Maryland to a place outside the U.S. in order to promote the FCPA violations. During the course of the protracted procedural history, Hoskins moved to dismiss the FCPA conspiracy count claiming he was neither a resident of the U.S. nor a national doing business in the U.S. The district court agreed, and in August 2015 dismissed the count implicating Hoskins in a conspiracy to violate the FCPA. Three years later, in August 2018, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal in part holding that while the government could not use a conspiracy charge to force extraterritorial application of the FCPA to Hoskins, he could nonetheless be criminally liable if the government showed that he was an agent of a domestic concern. The Court reasoned that while the FCPA defines a “domestic concern” as citizens, nationals, or residents of the United States and companies with a principal place of business in the U.S. or organized in the U.S., the officers, directors, employees or agents of a domestic concern need not meet all of the elements of a domestic concern nor do they need to do business in the U.S. Therefore, the fact that Hoskins never travelled to the United States to execute acts in furtherance of the FCPA violations was of no consequence, given his role as an agent of Alstom’s U.S. subsidiary in Connecticut. The Department of Justice’s news release alleges that the evidence at trial included emails where Hoskins and others discussed the use of third party consultants to pay bribes, as well as his decision to retain a second third party consultant following concerns that the first consultant would not come through as agreed once the project was awarded to Alstom. The evidence also showed that after Hoskins pressured the parent company’s dealings with the second consultant, the company was successfully awarded the project. Aside from fines, and monetary assessments, Hoskins now faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years imprisonment for both the conspiracy and substantive FCPA counts, and a maximum 20-year imprisonment sentence for the conspiracy and substantive money laundering counts. His sentencing has been set for January 30, 2020. Short bio missing