Who stands in for the public interest when a corporation settles a criminal case with prosecutors? Not a federal judge, says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in an over-broad ruling in the much anticipated case of Fokker Services, a Dutch aerospace firm which voluntarily reported its illegal activities and, as a result, faced prosecution for violating U.S. sanctions with Iran, Sudan and Myanmar.
In the district court, Judge Richard Leon rejected a deal prosecutors entered to defer the prosecution and toll the Speedy Trial Act for 18 months to allow the company to “demonstrate good conduct.” The statute says such tolling can only be “with the approval of the court, for the purpose of allowing the defendant to demonstrate his good conduct.”
