Limits on DOJ’s Ability to Reach Foreign Bribery Highlighted by Recent Decision

On Feb. 26, 2020, a federal court in Connecticut partially overturned jury verdicts in the criminal prosecution of a U.K. national who had allegedly bribed Indonesian government officials while working at a European subsidiary of Alstom SA. As criminal trials involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) are rare, the ruling is a significant setback to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in its effort to extend the global reach of the FCPA.