Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Professor Guest Blog: Crossing Richard Bistrong
Paul Calli and Chas Short authored a guest blog post at the FCPA Professor Blog about the cross-examination of the key government cooperator in the so-called “Africa Sting” case in Washington D.C.
In that case, the government manufactured a fake “crime” with the government cooperator at the center. Prosecutors claimed 22 military and law enforcement equipment industry executives tried to bribe the defense minister of Gabon, Africa in order to win contracts to provide body armor, weapons and military gear, in violation of the FCPA. The FCPA prohibits U.S. persons and companies, and foreign persons and companies acting in the United States, from bribing foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business.
Our client was the first to be vindicated in the case. In a procedurally uncommon move that rebuked the government’s case and highlighted the lack of evidence, United States District Judge Richard Leon granted our client’s motion for judgment of acquittal. The other accused individuals in the case were acquitted by the jury.
Our reflections on the cross-examination of the key government witness at the center of the fake “crime” can be read here at the FCPA Professor blog.
