Updates on the Africa Sting Case

As you most likely recall, CCI’s FCPA Columnist Mike Koehler wrote recently about the “historic” FCPA investigation that indicted 22 people for having the intent to bribe a foreign official. Since then, there have been numerous updates that Mike has posted over at his blog FCPA Professor. Here are links to those updates with excerpts:

Africa Sting: “Individual #1″ Indicted and Charged…in a Different Case

“Individual 1″ – a key player in each of the Africa Sting indictments (see here) has been identified by the New York Times (see here) as Richard T. Bistrong, a former employee of Armor Holdings. (Armor Holdings, a former publicly-traded company, is currently a subsidiary of BAE Systems).

In an ironic twist, Bistrong was charged today in a criminal information (see here) with conspiracy – not for his role in the Africa Sting case – but a wholly separate bribe scheme.

A History of Undercover FPCA Investigations

The Africa Sting case is indeed the largest and most dramatic use of pro-active, undercover investigative techniques in an FCPA investigation.

However, contrary to numerous reports and even statements attributed to DOJ officials, the Africa Sting case is not the first time that pro-active, undercover investigative techniques have been used in an FCPA investigation. In other words, this is not a new development as demonstrated below.

Africa String – Entrapment

As previously indicated (here) a key FCPA issue presented in the Africa Sting indictments is whether offering to bribe or paying a bribe to a fictitious “foreign official” or a real, but non-participating “foreign official” can constitute a substantive FCPA violation given the influence and induce language in the statute.

Another obvious legal issue raised by the Africa Sting indictments is entrapment.

This is an area of law that is a bit “outside of my strike zone” so I went to the bullpen.

On the mound, Dru Stevenson, a Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law (here). With several entrapment publications (here), Professor Stevenson drops in today for a guest post on the law of entrapment and the legal landscape facing the Africa Sting defendants.