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Second Circuit Once Again Hears Appeal In U.S. V. Hoskins

By on August 19, 2021 in Agency Issues, FCPA Appeals, Lawrence Hoskins
secondcircuit

To call U.S. v. Hoskins a long-drawn out Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action would be an understatement.

In 2013, the DOJ criminally charged Lawrence Hoskins (a United Kingdom national and former senior vice president for the Asia region for France-based Alstom) with conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions among other charges. (See here for the prior post). The conduct at issue alleged occurred between 2002 and 2004.

Unlike certain of his co-defendants who pleaded guilty, Hoskins put the DOJ to its burden of proof and at the trial court level argued in a motion to dismiss that the FCPA charges should be dismissed “on the basis that [the indictment] charges a legally invalid theory that he could be criminally liable for conspiracy to violate the FCPA even if the evidence does not establish that he was subject to criminal liability as a principal, by being an “agent” of a “domestic concern.” (See here for the prior post).

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Motion To Dismiss Argues That The DOJ’s Case “Continues The Worrisome Trend By The DOJ To Stretch The Reach Of The United States’ Criminal Statutes Beyond Congress’ Intent In An Attempt To Police The World”

By on March 15, 2021 in Agency Issues, Daisy Rafoi-Bleuler, Jurisdiction, Lawrence Hoskins
worldpolice

As highlighted in this prior post, in 2019 Daisy Rafoi-Bleuler (a citizen of Switzerland and partner in a Swiss Wealth Management firm) became the latest individual to be criminally charged with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act offenses for allegedly directing bribes to various individuals at Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, PDVSA.

According to the DOJ, Rafoi opened Swiss bank accounts and facilitated financial transactions for various co-conspirators to help facilitate the bribery scheme.

As highlighted in this post, in late October 2020, Rafoi-Bleuler (through her counsel Matthew Reinhard, Andrew Wise, and Margot Laporte at Miller & Chevalier) filed a motion to dismiss the criminal charges against her.

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Checking In On The DOJ’s Hoskins Appeal

By on January 15, 2021 in FCPA Appeals, Lawrence Hoskins, Uncategorized
Judicial Decision

In 2019 Lawrence Hoskins was found guilty of FCPA and related charges in a long-running enforcement action (the FCPA conduct Hoskins was found guilty of allegedly occurred between 2002 and 2004).

As highlighted in this prior post, in early 2020 the trial court judge granted Hoskins’s motion of acquittal on all FCPA charges (the issue was highly factual and generally focused on whether Hoskins was an agent of a “domestic concern.”).

Rather than let go of this enforcement action (in which the DOJ suffered numerous other defeats including this 2018 pre-trial Second Circuit decision regarding jurisdictional issues), after the post-trial acquittal the DOJ filed another Second Circuit appeal (see here) in which it framed the issues as follows:

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Friday Roundup

By on October 16, 2020 in Compliance, FCPA Appeals, FCPA Sentences, Jesus Ramon Veroes, Lawrence Hoskins, Luis Alberto Chacin Haddad
Roundup

Checking in on an appeal, sentence reduced, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.

Checking In On An Appeal

This recent post highlighted the DOJ’s appeal in the Lawrence Hoskins matter.

Recently Hoskins filed a brief in response and is also cross-appealing certain issues.

As to the DOJ’s appeal challenging the trial court’s decision to acquit Hoskins of all FCPA charges on the grounds that the trial evidence utterly failed to prove he acted as an agent of a domestic concern, the brief states in summary fashion:

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DOJ Files Brief In Another Second Circuit Appeal In The Hoskins Matter

By on July 16, 2020 in Agency Issues, FCPA Appeals, Lawrence Hoskins
appeal

Why?

That was the question posed in this March when the DOJ filed a notice of appeal to the Second Circuit of Judge Janet Bond Arterton’s February 26th grant of Lawrence Hoskins’s motion for acquittal on the seven FCPA charges he was convicted of by the jury. (See here for the prior post. As noted in the post, Judge Arterton denied Hoskin’s motion for acquittal on the five money laundering charges he was convicted of by the jury).

As highlighted in this post, thereafter Judge Arterton significantly rejected the DOJ’s 7-9 year sentencing recommendation on the money laundering charges and sentenced Hoskins to approximately one year in federal prison. Even if the Second Circuit would overturn Judge Arterton’s acquittal (a process that would likely take a few years given that the last Second Circuit appeal in Hoskins matter took approximately two years), Judge Arterton already ruled on February 26th that Hoskins’s motion for a new trial was conditionally granted if her judgment of acquittal was later vacated or reversed on appeal.

Nevertheless, the DOJ is plowing ahead with its appeal as it filed this brief earlier this week.

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