What Does “Resident” Mean?
In 2018, the DOJ unsealed criminal charges against Raul Gorrin Belisario, a prominent Venezuelan businessman and described by the DOJ as a citizen and national of Venezuela who at various time periods relevant to the charges was a resident of the U.S. with a residence in Florida. (See here).
According to the criminal indictment, Gorrin “offered and agreed to pay bribes to Foreign Official 1 [described as a high-level official with decision-making authority and influence within the Oficina Nacional del Tesoro (ONT), the Venezuelan National Treasury] for purposes of obtaining and retaining business; specifically, influencing and inducing Foreign Official 1 to permit Gorrin to conduct foreign currency exchanges for the Venezuelan government and securing an improper advantage in acquiring the right to conduct such exchange transactions.”
In addition to the FCPA charge, Gorrin was also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and several substantive money laundering offenses.
A Closer Look At The DOJ FCPA (And Broader) Enforcement Action Against Various Individuals Associated With Adani Group and Azure Power
As indicated in this prior post, the SEC’s FCPA enforcement action against Cyril Sebastien Dominique Cabanes (“Cabanes” an individual associated with Azure Power – a former U.S. issuer) and the SEC’s securities fraud action against two senior executives of Adani Green (Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani) in connection with an alleged Indian bribery scheme were just one prong of a broader enforcement action announced earlier this week.
As highlighted in this post, the DOJ also announced unsealing of a criminal indictment (originally filed on October 24th) against the following individuals in connection with the same alleged Indian bribery scheme.
SEC Brings First FCPA Individual Action Since 2020
Yesterday, the SEC announced a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Cyril Sebastien Dominique Cabanes (“Cabanes”) – a French citizen and resident of Singapore who was previously a member of the board of directors of Azure Power Global Limited (a Mauritius company with its principal place of business in India). During the time period relevant to the enforcement action, Azure was a publicly traded company with shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Cabanes enforcement action is the first SEC FCPA enforcement action against an individual since October 2020.
DOJ Criminally Charges Gorrin … Again
As discussed in this prior post, in 2018 the DOJ announced criminal charges against Raul Gorrin Belisario, a well-known Venezuelan businessman and described by the DOJ as a citizen and national of Venezuela who at various time periods relevant to the charges was a resident of the U.S. with a residence in Florida.
According to the criminal indictment, Gorrin “offered and agreed to pay bribes to Foreign Official 1 [described as a high-level official with decision-making authority and influence within the Oficina Nacional del Tesoro (ONT), the Venezuelan National Treasury] for purposes of obtaining and retaining business; specifically, influencing and inducing Foreign Official 1 to permit Gorrin to conduct foreign currency exchanges for the Venezuelan government and securing an improper advantage in acquiring the right to conduct such exchange transactions.”
Who Needs FEPA?
As long as political actors have existed, political actors have taken credit for filling a perceived legal gap by enacting new laws.
Time will tell of course, but query whether the recently enacted Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) (a law which seeks to capture the so-called “demand” side of foreign bribery) was even needed.
As has been discussed on these pages over the last several years when various versions of FEPA were introduced in Congress, the Department of Justice already has several criminal statutes available to prosecute alleged “foreign officials” who receive bribes and has been prosecuting such cases for a long time.