Justice Department prosecutors are fighting back against the demands of some criminal defense lawyers that the government not be allowed to control the pace of the department’s most ambitious Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case, unfolding in federal district court in Washington.
Twenty-two executives and employees in the arms dealing business have been charged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with attempting to bribe a fictitious foreign official in order to secure a cut of a $15 million contract. The case is the largest-ever prosecution of individuals for FCPA crimes and marks the first large-scale use of an undercover sting in the department’s fight against foreign corruption.
